On paper, it looked like the Tampa Bay Lightning should win their game against the San Jose Sharks rather easily. On the ice, that’s exactly what happened. The Lightning built a three-goal lead in the first period and kept up their relentless play for the majority of the night on their way to a 6-0 victory over the Sharks. Coming into the night, the Sharks had allowed the most scoring chances in the league and the Lightning made sure San Jose stayed at the top of the list as they racked up 50 scoring chances (40 at 5v5) according to Natural Stat Trick.
Defensively, Jonas Johansson posted his second shutout in a row as he made 21 stops on the night. In doing so, he was the first Lightning goaltender to put up back-to-back goose eggs since Andrei Vasilevskiy accomplished the feat back in November of 2021 when he shut out Philadelphia and Seattle. The defense in front of him was strong as the Bolts only allowed 18 scoring chances all night with NST considering just 5 of them of the high-danger variety.
While the defense played well, it was the offense that ruled the night for the Lightning. If any hockey fan wants to know what the Lightning want to do offensively on a night-in, night-out basis, they should watch the first two periods of this game. The Bolts were able to use the entire ice in the neutral zone to build up speed entering the San Jose zone. Once set up, the Sharks allowed them space and time, with that the Lightning are absolutely deadly.
Brayden Point led off the scoring barrage with his second in as many games, scoring just 1:41 into the game. They doubled their lead four minutes later when Mikey Eyssimont tipped home a Calvin de Haan shot while being crosschecked onto the ice. Eyssimont was stoked to score against the team that traded him last season. The Bolts have been in this position before, dominating an early part of a game only to let off and allow the opponent back into the game. It wasn’t to be against San Jose as Steven Stamkos wristed home a power-play goal with under a minute to go in the first period.
There was no let up in the second period as the Lightning scored two more goals, first by Brandon Hagel and then by Nick Paul. The Paul goal chased MacKenzie Blackwood, who had a stellar game for a goalie that allowed five goals, and Kaapo Kahkonen stemmed the tide for a little bit.
One of the more impressive parts of the game was that the Lightning weren’t cheating to create their offense. They stayed within their structure and didn’t allow the Sharks too many odd-man rushes or dangerous chances. San Jose did press a bit with the game out of hand on the scoreboard, but most of their shots were coming from distance and Johansson and clear views of the shots.
The Lightning closed out the game with one more goal, this one coming from the fourth line as Luke Glendening picked up his first goal as a Bolt, deflecting a shot from Conor Sheary off of two Sharks and past Kahkonen.
The final numbers were dominant for the Lightning. They had 80 shot attempts, 50 scoring chances, and 23 high-danger chances on the night at all strengths. A season-long trend did continue as the Bolts missed the net on 25 of their shot attempts. Coach Jon Cooper has mentioned that as an issue at points in the season, but with the absolute volume they threw at the San Jose net, it didn’t make a difference.
Fourteen of the Lightning’s skaters recorded at least one point on the night, including five of the six defensemen. In all, the blueliners picked up 8 points, all assists. Three of the four lines contributed goals, and the one line that didn’t (Tanner Jeannot, Anthony Cirelli, Waltteri Merela) led the team with 16 shot attempts at 5v5.
Simply put, the Lightning played a solid game all night and took advantage of a struggling team to extend their points streak to five games. They will now have a few days off as they aren’t back on the ice until Monday when they finish up the home stand against the Seattle Kraken.
The Lines
The Goals
Brayden Point (Mikhail Sergachev, Nick Perbix) 1-0 Lightning
Mikey Eyssimont (Calvin de Haan, Nick Perbix) 2-0 Lightning
Steven Stamkos (Nikita Kucherov, Mikhail Sergachev) 5-on-3 Power Play, 3-0 Lightning
Brandon Hagel (Alex Barre-Boulet, Victor Hedman) 4-0 Lightning
Nick Paul (Steven Stamkos, Victor Hedman) 5-0 Lightning
Luke Glendening (Conor Sheary, Darren Raddysh) 6-0 Lightning
