It’s the three-year anniversary of one of the biggest goals in Tampa Bay Lightning history and there is nothing else going on so let’s go ahead and do some rememberin’.
The Setting
It’s August 11, 2020. Lightning fans had been without “real” hockey since the COVID pandemic shut down the world in the middle of March and we were all sitting at home waiting for a distraction and not knowing how this whole “Bubble Hockey” thing would work out. After posting a 2-1 record in the seeding round with wins against Washington and Boston followed by a loss to Philadelphia, the Lightning had secured the second seed in the Toronto bracket and had an opening round match-up against the Columbus Blue Jackets, the team that had unceremoniously dumped them out of the playoffs in the first round the previous season.
Prior to The Pause, the Lightning had gone all in at the deadline by acquiring Barclay Goodrow and Blake Coleman, two players who had combined for a whopping 3 assists during their brief tenure in a Lightning uniform. Overall, the team had limped down the stretch with a 3-7 record before things were halted. Captain Steven Stamkos was a question mark to play after sustaining a core injury. Jan Rutta was also hurt. To add to the uneasiness, Victor Hedman had suffered an ankle injury in the round robin loss to Philadelphia.
Meanwhile, despite some offseason losses and injuries of their own, the Blue Jackets had knocked off the Toronto Maple Leafs in the qualifying round and were looking forward to stifling the Lightning offense once again.
Personally, I was in North Carolina visiting my parents and forcing them to watch a hockey game for the second or third time in their life. I may have sold them on the fact it started at noon and would be over by three o’clock at the latest, leaving plenty of time to catch a quick, socially distanced nine holes on their local golf course. Oh boy, was I wrong (and lucky to still be in the will. I’m still in the will, right?)
The Game
Our old friend Matt had recap duties on the game, and did an excellent job of capturing the back and forth tension of the game. While the final result has erased a lot of memories, even the regulation portion of the game was filled with trepidation. An early goal (2:39 in to the game) by Pierre-Luc Dubois put the Lightning down and a sense of “here we go again” filled Lightning fans’ hearts. Point did equalize things a few minutes later to calm the nerves, but the Lightning had to erase another one-goal deficit early in the third period , which they did thanks to Yanni Gourde.
From then on, it was The Andrei Vasilevskiy and Jonas Korpisalo Show as the goaltenders thwarted chance after chance. Looking back, the numbers seem absurd. Vasilevskiy stopped 61 of 63, Korpisalo 85 of 88. Seth Jones was on the ice for 65 minutes and Zach Werenski for 61. Hedman, on his bum ankle skated for 57 minutes. Nikita Kucherov was on the ice for 45 minutes, generated 16 shot attempts and 6 individual scoring chances. Point was on the ice for 46 minutes, had 11(!) individual scoring chances and 9 shots on goal.
The teams combined for 299 shot attempts, 92 of which were blocked by a player other than a goaltender. David Savard, who likely earned a trade to the Lightning the next season with his performance, blocked 11 shots by himself in 51:49 of ice time. It was a beautifully ugly game that ended with a wonderful result for the Bolts.
The Goal
If you want proof that the Lightning just wanted to end this game, look no further than Nikita Kucherov just whipping a shot at the net on his second chance. Off-balanced and in a less-than-prime scoring area isn’t where he normally likes to take a shot. Yet, it turned out to be the shot that hit Vladislav Gavrikov and opened up a lane for Brayden Point to fling the game-winner under the bar and into the net.
Upon watching it years later, there were a few moments where this goal almost didn’t happen. Let’s go to a little bit of a longer clip to break it down:
Riley Nash is doing his best to keep up with Point, but loses a step when Mikhail Sergachev steps up and sets just the slightest of picks at the far circle. With a little bit of space Point almost skates it over the blueline before feeding it to Kucherov for a one-timer. The shot is blocked and Nash comes tantalizingly close to getting it in open ice.
Credit Sergachev for bodying off Alexandre Texier and getting his stick on the puck first for a pass to Kucherov who shanked his second attempt right into the upper body of Gavrikov. Despite three other Blue Jackets being in the area, the puck comes to Point and he wristed it up and just under the bar to end the marathon.
After the game Point admitted he wasn’t expecting it to go in as he told the media, “I just see a rolling puck come to me and I just throw one on net. I’m not even really aiming. Just sling one there and lucky enough to find a corner.”
The aftermath
Columbus came back in Game 2 to win 3-1 with Korpisalo making another 36 saves, but the Lightning would win the next three (all by one goal) to advance to next round when Point scored a Game 5 overtime winner.
The Lightning would go on to win the first of their two consecutive Stanley Cups and just miss out on the three-peat with a Finals loss to the Colorado Avalanche. Meanwhile, Columbus would finish last in the realigned Central Division in the 2020-21 season allowing them to select Kent Johnson with the 5th overall pick. Head coach John Tortorella would not return as head coach for the 2021-22 season and while Columbus improved to 37-38-7, they still missed the playoffs. Injuries and a poor start doomed their 2022-23 season despite the addition of Johnny Gaudreau as a free agent. The poor finish (and some unlucky draft lottery odds) led them to the third pick of the draft where they selected Adam Fantilli.
