The Tampa Bay Lightning beat the Philadelphia Flyers 8-7.
Yes, you read that right – 8-7.
I just don’t even know what to say about this game. There were nine goals scored in the first period by both teams, five in the second, and only one in the third. That might seem strange that the scoring trails off like that, but it’s pretty typical in these high-scoring games. Either they start slow and finish fast, or start fast and finish slow.
The Lightning trailed this one until five minutes into the third when Nate Thompson scored the game winner. Steven Stamkos got a hat trick – on three shots that is – and two assists. Martin St. Louis ended up with five assists and was a +5 on the night. Stamkos was only a +2 on the night, despite that, but two of his goals were power play goals, and one assist was also on the power play. (Power play points are not figured into +/-.)
All four goalies played in this game. Dan Eliis, who started for Tampa Bay, was pulled in favor of Mike Smith after he let in four goals on 10 shots. Sergei Bobrovsky was pulled at the end of the first after letting in four goals on 11 shots. Brian Boucher and Smith finished the game.
Amazingly enough, the final shot totals weren’t very high. The Lightning outshot the Flyers 33-32. Which means that the defense didn’t really play defense, and the forwards didn’t really, either.
Craziest stat of the game: 29 different players (out of the total 40 players that dressed) got a point.
There was another scary play in the third period where former Lightning player Andrej Meszaros tried taking out Dana Tyrell‘s knees on an open-ice play. He ended up getting two minutes for “clipping” – a call that’s not often used – and two minutes for unsportsmanlike conduct. It looked like a football hit, but even in American football that still wouldn’t been an illegal move. Luckily, Tyrell was fine.
(hat tip to Kukla’s Korner, where we found the video)
The next game is Saturday, 20 November, at the Buffalo Sabres. Game time is 7:30 pm Eastern. The Raw Charge game thread will be open at 7 pm.
