We’ve fallen behind in our first goal series, and with the Lightning enjoying a couple of days off, we decided to rectify that situation by posting a couple of the newest Bolts to record their first NHL goals. It’s been a rather busy year for first NHL goals as three members of the organization found the back of the net for the first time. Next up – Declan Carlile.
You have to give the rookie blueliner credit. He didn’t waste anytime in finding the back of the net. In just one game this year, he found the back of the net in the Lightning’s 5-1 victory over the Seattle Kraken. For Carlile, the 12th-ranked prospect in the organization, he recorded the goal in his second career NHL game as he had a one-game appearance in 2023-24. Called up this year with J.J. Moser and Victor Hedman ailing, Carlile showed his offensive instincts by joining the rush and finishing off a nifty pass from Luke Glendening.
As with so many goals, this one starts off with a clean face-off win by Glendening, who drew it back to Darren Raddysh. The defenseman glided behind the net and found Mikey Eyssimont along the far boards with his pass. Eyssimont took the hit to get the puck into the zone.
Credit to Zemgus Girgensons for not going off-side on the entry. As we see here, Carlile (at the bottom-right of the screen) is well behind the play, but he had his head up and saw the gap between the Kraken’s lines of defense.
Glendening collected the puck and Girgensons wheeled to drive to the net, drawing a Kraken defenders with him. Carlile picked up the pace to join the rush, knowing that he could slide in behind the initial rush to give Glendening a second option.
We arrive at the key part of the play. Glendening spied Carlile sprinting in behind Girgensons’ initial drive and threaded the pass between Matty Beniers’ skates. The Seattle forward has the angle to take the pass to Girgensons away, but with Brandon Tanev (Seattle #13) not able to close off the middle of the ice, there was a wide-open lane to Carlile.
The recently-traded Will Borgen (#3) is tangled up with Girgensons in front of the net and is of no help to goaltender Philipp Grubauer. The netminder reads the pass really well and comes out to challenge Carlile. He doesn’t leave him much to shoot at, and time is quickly running out for the Lightning defender as Tanev closed in on Carlile.
Carlile got the shot just over the glove and past Girgenson’s stick (credit to him for blindly waving at the puck despite being eclipsed by Borgen). It was an excellent shot off the rush for Carlile, who has 18 goals in 163 games for the Syracuse Crunch.
Bonus screen grab to show why Mikey Eyssimont is annoying to play against. While all the attention is focused on Carlile, Eyssimont has Ryker Evans, who hit him along the boards during the entry, in a headlock well away from the play.
