@jayRecher
So, about that Stanley Cup hangover.
On the same night that they unveiled their Stanley Cup banner, the Tampa Bay Lightning defeated the Chicago Blackhawks by a score of 5-1 on Wednesday evening at Amalie Arena.
Ondrej Palat, Mathieu Joseph, Anthony Cirelli, Steven Stamkos and Brayden Point each scored, while Lightning goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy made 21 saves in the win.
We knew that the power play was going to look different with Nikita Kucherov out for the season after undergoing hip surgery, but the Bolts showed that they still have plenty of firepower left to make things happen on the man-advantage.
Following an interference penalty to Chicago defenseman Calvin de Haan, Victor Hedman took a feed from Stamkos and fired a shot that Chicago netminder Malcolm Subban was unable to handle. Palat jumped quickly on the rebound & beat the Hawks backstop to put Tampa Bay ahead 1-0 at the 10:39 mark of the 1st.
Joseph made it 2-0 by throwing a puck from behind the net on goal and it went off Subban and slowly trickled in to double the Tampa Bay lead.
99 seconds later the Lightning added another when Cirelli made a deft deflection of an Erik Cernak shot that went over the shoulder of Subban and in to make it 3-0.
Stamkos scored from his office on a one-timer at 9:56 of the 2nd period to give the Lightning a 4-0 lead & really put the game out of reach.
Point added a goal at the 6:45 mark to push the Lightning lead to five.
Dylan Strome scored with 3:24 left in the 3rd period to prevent Vasilevskiy from going home with a shutout.
Subban finished the night with 28 saves on 33 shots.
**
SCORING SUMMARY
1st Period
- Tampa Bay - PPG - Palat - (Hedman, Stamkos) - 10:39
- Tampa Bay - Joseph - (Killorn, Cirelli) - 16:18
- Tampa Bay - Cirelli - (Cernak, Killorn) - 17:57
2nd Period
- Tampa Bay - PPG - Stamkos - (Point, Hedman) - 9:56
3rd Period
- Tampa Bay - Point - (Stamkos, Sergachev) - 6:45
- Chicago - Strome - (Unassisted) - 16:36
**
PENALTY SUMMARY
1st Period
- Tampa Bay - Rutta - (Hooking) - 7:27
- Chicago - de Haan - (Interference) - 10:08
- Tampa Bay - Palat - (Interference) - 19:12
2nd Period
- Chicago - Boqvist - (Holding) - 4:01
- Chicago - Keith - (Interference) - 9:17
3rd Period
- Chicago - Keith - (Slashing) - 0:40
- Tampa Bay - Goodrow - (Holding) - 14:52
**
What's Next For The Bolts : The Lightning are back in action Friday night as they again host the Chicago Blackhawks at Amalie Arena. Puck drop is slated for 7pm with the pregame show starting at 6pm on NewsRadio WFLA.
PHOTO : Getty Images