The Stanley Cup was awarded to the Pittsburgh Penguins on catfish-laden ice last night. Obviously, the Tampa Bay Lightning were not a part of the festivities. In order to fill the void for Lightning fans, Raw Charge is breaking down the past season team by team to see who helped and who hurt the season.
Opponent:
Games:
December 17, 2016: Edmonton 3 Tampa Bay 2 (SO)
Preview by @loserpoints, A foray into the fiefdom of Young King McDavid
“As dark as things are in Channelside, they’re nowhere near the desolate wasteland of failure that the Edmonton Oilers have become over the past decade. But things are changing. The arrival of Connor McDavid as the Future Best Player in the World and the Savior of the Franchise has things looking much better for the Oilers. Even horrific front office decisions like trading Taylor Hall for Adam Larsson this summer haven’t been enough to prevent Young King McDavid from leading this team toward a potential playoff appearance.”
Recap by @GeoFitz4, Lightning fall to the Oilers in the shootout 3-2
“It was good for the team to get three points off of three road games. That’s generally the goal on road trips to keep you on pace for winning. That however is dependent on playing well at home. The Lightning have not played well enough at home and currently sit outside of the playoff picture. The Lightning are struggling with injuries and need to get healthy if they are to have a chance to claw their way back into the playoffs.”
February 21, 2017: Tampa Bay 4 Edmonton 1
Preview by @iActium, The McDavid show arrives
“Tonight brings in the second-best team in the Pacific Division, the Edmonton Oilers. Or as I like to call them, the “Connor McDavid is here to make everyone look stupid” show. Seriously, McDavid is scary, the kid is barely 20 years old and he makes hardened NHL veterans look stupid on a consistent basis. Do not think this kid is a joke.”
Recap by Clark J Brooks, Lightning continue to pick up points, beat Oilers 4-1
“In the ongoing effort to make an improbable push for the playoffs, which is becoming slightly less improbable with each passing game, the Lightning won for the fifth time in seven outings, picking up points in each of them.”
Boxscore:
Goals: Ondrej Palat (2), Jonathan Drouin (1), Tyler Johnson (1), Nikita Kucherov (1), Vladislav Namestnikov (1)
Assists: Nikita Kucherov (3), Tyler Johnson (2), Cory Conacher (1), Victor Hedman (1), Nikita Nesterov (1), Brayden Point (1), Anton Stralman (1)
Save Percentage:
Ben Bishop – .943 SV% (3 goals on 53 shots)
View from the other bench:
Jeff Chapman(@NewWaveOil) from Copper & Blue was kind enough to give us his perspective on the season series against the Lightning.
Edmonton was 1-1 in their season series with Tampa Bay, which usually isn’t too bad. The two points coughed up in Tampa could’ve been the two needed to win the Pacific Division, but we can’t be too unhappy after missing the playoffs for the last three hundred years. Tyler Johnson was a force to be reckoned with for those two games, grabbing three points (1-2-3) in the process. Ondrej Palat? Him too (2-0-2). The Oilers relied heavily on Connor McDavid (SO winner) and Leon Draisaitl (1-0-1) in their 3-2 OT win at home in December, while Tampa was missing their biggest threat in Steven Stamkos.
The only bright side for the Oilers in their 4-1 loss in Tampa on February 22nd would be Iiro Pakarinen’s goal. It was Pakarinen’s first goal of the year in his fourth game after a lengthy knee injury. Other than that, it stunk.
Trades:
Zero.
Did Edmonton Hurt or Help the Lightning this season?
Overall, Edmonton helped Tampa Bay. The Lightning earned three out of four points against the Oilers this season and that’s not something to scoff at. Edmonton was a different team than they had been over the past decade, and their run into the second round of the playoffs showed that they are going to be a contender sooner rather than later.
Tampa Bay did a great job controlling Connor McDavid during the season series. McDavid had zero points in the two games, but did score the shootout winner in the first matchup(shootout goals do not count for player statistics). Still, holding a player like McDavid to zero points is an accomplishment (the kid scored 100!).
The December 17th match-up in Edmonton was Tampa Bay’s first look at what the Oilers were this season. A fast, tough, and strong team is what Tampa Bay found out about Edmonton on December 17th. The Lightning held strong after falling behind 1-0 early in the second period and managed to tie it up with a Jonathan Drouin goal with 1:01 left.
Tyler Johnson gave Tampa Bay the lead early in the third, but Leon Draisaitl answered for the Oilers five minutes later. Overtime resulted in one shot per side and didn’t provide a winner, so off to the shootout we went.
Only Drouin scored in the shootout for Tampa Bay while Mark Letestu and McDavid tallied the shootout markers for Edmonton’s win. Coming away with a point during a month where Tampa Bay only managed six wins in December was about the best one could ask for. Thanks to the loser point (yay!) the Lightning managed to tread water by accruing 15 out of a possible 28 points that month (six wins=twelve points, three SOL/OTL=three points).
Conversely, Tampa Bay was a much better team during the second match-up against Edmonton. Resoundingly winning by a score of 4-1. The game was one of seven victories for the Lightning during the month of February (a month where they won seven out of ten and managed to accrue sixteen out of a possible twenty points losing only once in regulation).
Overall the Edmonton series was a good one for Tampa Bay. If you’re going to lose to a Western Conference team you might as well gain a point in it, and that is what the Lightning managed. Taking the second game just made the situation even better. The run Tampa Bay went on in February was the resurrection of the team we fans know and love. Hopefully moving into next season Tampa Bay can have more months similar to February ‘17 than December ‘16 or (shudders) January ‘17.
Highlights:
(Note: DAT SAUCE FROM JOHNSON WAS MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM)
