The Tampa Bay Lightning beat the Ottawa Senators 2-1.
Overall, the team played better than their no-show in Pittsburgh last Wednesday. However, it still wasn’t great. They played like a team trying not to lose rather than a team trying to win.
A good portion of the players were just out on the ice trying to not make too many mistakes. And, as John Tortorella has said, safe is death – which is a true enough statement. The way they were playing was not going to win them the hockey game.
But, you had guys like Martin St. Louis, Vincent Lecavalier, and Dwayne Roloson playing their hearts out, anyways. Two of those players, you’ll noticed, were coached by Tortorella, so they knew better than to try to play things safe like most of the rest of the team did. Sure, Lecavalier made some mistakes, but at least he was trying – which is more than the majority of the team was doing.
The stat that I’m sure will catch everyone’s eye is the 14 turnovers that are listed for the Lightning. Not the best stat in the world, is it. Don’t feel too bad for Roloson, though, since he had the most giveaways of anybody with three.
The comeback (from the 1-0 lead that Ottawa had) started with a great play by Adam Hall. Although, it wasn’t really a play. He just did what kids everywhere are told to do: go to the net and keep your stick on the ice. If you look at the replay of his goal, that’s exactly what he did. Dominic Moore passed the puck right onto Hall’s stick, and it just went in. Hall didn’t even have to do anything else, really, including actually shoot.
The second goal was by St. Louis, who had the team high of eight shots on goal for the night. (The entire team had 27 shots altogether.) Marty was everywhere, doing everything on the ice. The coach thought so highly of what Marty was trying to accomplish that Marty had the highest amount of ice time out of everyone on the team – including the defensemen – with 24:10. Steven Stamkos with next with ice time getting 22:15, and then Mattias Ohlund played 21:29 which is the most of any defenseman.
With this win, the Lightning maintain their hold on their narrow lead for the top spot in the Southeast Division. Which is good, since the Washington Capitals won last night as well. And they’re still second overall in the Eastern Conference.
Their next game is tonight at the New Jersey Devils. Game time is an early 5 pm Eastern. The Raw Charge game thread opens at 4:30 pm. See you then!
Lightning vs Senators recap [TSN]
Lightning vs Senators boxscore [TSN]
Lightning vs Senators coverage [SB Nation]
Silver Seven [SB Nation]
