Road trip receives jolt with win over Lightning
TAMPA, FLA. The Tampa Bay Lightning are likely Stanley Cup contenders.
And you can see why, given the speed, power and creativity that’s always evident in their game. It was on display here Thursday night at Amalie Arena.
But, they still have to play the games and while the home team did control play for much of the NHL contest, they still fell 4-1 to the Vancouver Canucks in a surprising and spirited comeback.
The Canucks really didn’t generate much on offence, but they did enough to grab two goals: a deflection for Elias Pettersson to tie the game 1-1 midway through the third period and then minutes later the game winner, on a blistering slapshot by Brock Boeser off a terrible turnover by the Lightning ’s Alex Killorn.
“It was both (relief and excitement),” Boeser said of his roaring celebration after scoring.
Jake Virtanen added an empty netter with 1:12 to go and Markus Granlund got another in garbage time with the Bolts’ goalie pulled.
“I hit it as hard I could, I used all the energy I had left,” Boeser said of the slapshot goal, his first of the season.
The Canucks’ power play didn’t score, but generated plenty of chances. They also killed penalties well.
More importantly, though, they received an outstanding performance from goalie Anders Nilsson.
Lightning forward Brayden Point scored at 16:36 of the first and, for a while, it looked as if it might stand as the winner.
Here’s what else we learned from Tampa on Thursday:
THERE’S SHOTS. AND THEN THERE ARE GOOD SHOTS
The Lightning were all over the Canucks in the first 10 minutes. At one point the shots were 9-1.
But halfway through the third, just before Pettersson scored to tie the game, the shot clock showed 29-22. So on the surface, the game was “even.”
But you knew the game didn’t feel that way. Sure the Canucks had killed penalties well, but at even strength most of the action was being generated by the team in blue. So you started looking at the shot charts and yes, you realized how few chances the Canucks had.
Even so, it was just 1-0 and as the saying goes “anything can happen at 1-0.”
It was perhaps fitting then that Pettersson’s goal and Boeser’s goal were both down to the Canucks getting traffic in front and making things difficult for Lightning goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy.
NILSSON SHINES IN NET
Last season did not end well for the Canucks’ giant backup. In 14 post-Christmas starts, he had three games with five goals against and five games where he yielded four goals. And he had a game before Christmas where six goals went in, and another that same month with seven against.
When the Canucks left on this road trip, it wasn’t clear when he might get a start. There are no back-to-backs and even a couple extra rest days in between games.
And although after Jacob Markstrom’s tough night in Carolina on Tuesday, you could see why coach Travis Green might have looked to give his backup a start, Green said after the game Nilsson had been marked to make this start anyway.
And Nilsson delivered, making every save look easy. The lone goal was the 15th shot on target for the Bolts and it came off a goalmouth scramble that was initiated by Tyler Johnson flipping the puck off Nilsson’s shoulder and the Canucks’ defence then being unable to clear the rebound.
Nilsson kept the game a one-goal affair on a scramble late in the second. He came up big again in the third. His best save was probably with 11:18 to go, as he tracked a twice-deflected point shot into
his body with ease. Nilsson was pleased with how well he played, but pointed to his penalty killers for their work, especially in the first period, when the Lightning were hugely dominant on a pair of power plays.
“Credit to all the guys on the PK,” he said. “I was excited to get to play ... I felt good right away.”
HEAD-MAN IMPRESSES
Why does Victor Hedman find himself in Norris Trophy consideration every year?
Let us look at the rush he led five minutes into the second period.
There was an excellent stretch pass out of the Lightning end to an attacker out near centre. “Who is that?”, we thought, just for a moment.
And only a moment. It’s not just that Hedman wears 77. He’s huge. You can’t miss his presence. And so he collected the puck and just hit the accelerator, powering through the half-gap in front of him, between Derrick Pouliot and Troy Stecher.
Stecher scrambled and impeded the big Swede just enough to throw him off course as he drove toward Nilsson. Stecher was called for the hook and Nilsson covered the shot well, but the point was made.
Hedman, in case you hadn’t heard, is very, very good.