Time and time again the Tampa Bay Lightning almost tied up the game. Victor Hedman almost tied it, but his shot hit the post. The same story for Brayden Point who had slipped behind the Vegas Golden Knights and beat goaltender Aiden Hill, but his shot rung off the crossbar. It looked like Vegas was going to hold on to their 3-2 lead as their defense was content to get the puck and clear it. Then the Lightning offense flashed their might with two quick goals as Brandon Hagel tied it, and Nikita Kucherov won it with less than a minute to go to give the Bolts a 4-3 victory.
Kucherov finished the game with two goals to run his season total to six. JJ Moser scored his first goal as a member of the Lightning and then added two assists. Andrei Vasilevskiy picked up his 296th career win, stopping 22 of 25 shots. Adin Hill, who finished with 21 saves, was staunch in the first two periods and seemed to be on his way to stealing a win for his team.
The Lightning generated a season-high 72 shot attempts, but Vegas blocked 24 (!) shots on the night. So, it was pretty fitting that the winning goal for the Lightning bounced off of a Vegas skate. Once again, all of the Lightning goals came at 5v5 as they went 0-for-2 on the power play, which included over a minute of 5-on-3. It’s still a work in progress as the Bolts adjust to their new personnel.
First Period:
14:34 – Well, that’s kind of a bummer. After five minutes of really good play, the Lightning forget about Brayden McNabb in their zone and he wrists one past Vasilevskiy. Jake Guentzel has two really good chances already, but despite all of their offensive zone time, the Bolts haven’t been able to put too much on Hill yet. Brayden McNabb (Mark Stone, Jack Eichel) 1-0 Golden Knights
13:33 – We’re seeing what Vegas does very well – which is keep pressure off of their goaltender. Even though the Lightning are buzzing in the zone, their shots are getting blocked. It is nice seeing them extend zone time by working hard to get to loose pucks and forechecking hard which is disrupting the Vegas breakout.
9:39 – Welcome to Tampa, JJ Moser. The defenseman takes a bounce pass off of the wall from Atkinson and chips it just through the five-hole of Hill to tie it up. That was a really good shift by the third line. Geekie with a solid back-check earlier in the play. JJ Moser (Cam Atkinson, Emil Lilleberg) 1-1
5:54 – Conor Geekie picks up the first of many roughing penalties in his career as he gives a shot to Brayden McNabb behind the play. He plays with an edge and will get whistled for those types of play has been a lot more noticeable in the last two games than he was in his debut.
4:40 – Vegas keeps the puck in the zone for an extended time and takes advantage of some open space to work the puck over to an open player. Pavel Dorofeyev one-times the feed off of Vasy’s shoulder and into the back of the net. Pavel Dorofeyev (Shea Theodore, Jack Eichel) Power Play 2-1 Golden Knights
1:34 – Our first tussle of the game, and look Anthony Cirelli is involved! Prior to that Kucherov with two chances in close. He chips a shot over the net after getting behind the net, then he repossesses the puck, but Hill shuts him off before Kuch can get the quality shot off.
12.8 – In a flash, the Lightning tie it up. Kucherov finishes off the two-on-one from Guentzel, who threaded it perfectly between the defense. This is the type of period we would expect from these two teams. They just know how to generate offense. Nikita Kucherov (Jake Guentzel) 2-2
Second Period:
17:59 – Ivan Barbashev flings it into the net as the top line in hockey converts again. The Bolts had some coverage issues in front of the net on that one, something we haven’t seen much of this season. Ivan Barbashev (Shea Theodore) 3-2 Golden Knights
15:53 – Almost a carbon copy of the last goal, but Vasy denies the shot from Tomas Hertl. It’s been pretty much all Vegas in the second so far as they’ve been a little cleaner in their own zone, allowing them to transition through the ice easier.
10:44 – Mikey Eyssimont heads to the box for slashing (fitting as Halloween is around the corner). Lightning need to force a turnover and clear the puck on this penalty kill, something they couldn’t do the first time they were shorthanded.
7:36 – Point slices through the defense and tries to dish it off. The building would have gone nuts if he had pulled it off. Then Hedman catches the post. Much better penalty kill for the Bolts, they had several clears and a couple of chances. One thing about playing Vegas, they are vulnerable to transition play, but really tough to score against once they are set in their own zone. Both of the Lightning goals have come off of rushes and they’ve generated some really good chances when they’ve brought the puck into the zone with speed.
6:53 – Hill denies Kucherov with a desperation glove save. Prior to that Kucherov found the iron off the rush. Both goalies are upping their level of play.
2:42 – The final TV break of the period comes after the Lightning had a really good run of play. They are back to forechecking and bottling up Vegas in their own zone. Still have to find a way to win the battles in front of Hill and put a little more pressure on him.
2:13 – Ahh. The first power play of the night. Zach Whitecloud with a slash on Kucherov.
1:23 – Vegas now picks up a too-many-men penalty. So far the Lightning have had some good zone time and Hill made a really tough save on Point who was looking to push home a rebound. It’s 5-on-3 for 1:10.
0:00 – Point is close to tying it up, but can’t free his stick up enough to tuck in the loose puck. Darren Raddysh has been much more active on the power play, but his window for one-timers is noticeably smaller than Stamkos’.
Third Period:
18:52 – The Lightning don’t generate anything on the final 30 seconds of their power play, now have to kill off another penalty as Conor Geekie goes to the box for hooking. He just got his stick a little high on the backcheck.
16:10 – Oh my. How did that not go in? Brayden Point in alone, roofs it, but it caught the crossbar and stayed out. It really looked like it snuck in past Hill. Oh, and the Lightning killed the penalty fairly well.
12:58 – Vasilevskiy makes a nice save on a breakaway and then Hill responds at the other end as Cam Atkinson has a shot at stuffing in a rebound.
9:51 – Jake Guentzel flings the puck to the far boards and the refs whistle it down despite Point getting to the puck first. No one in blue is happy about the call and the refs concede that it shouldn’t have been icing. The face-off will be at center ice. On the shift prior, Geekie ripped a frozen rope from the slot, but it went over the bar. That was his best look at a goal so far.
5:09 – Vegas is really tough to play against when they have a lead late in a game. They sit back and are happy to clear the puck out. Right now they’re not letting the Lightning get behind them at all. The Bolts are going to have to get the puck in and create turnovers with their forecheck.
2:22 – Brandon Hagel ties it up! Just as eyes were turning to see if Vasilevskiy would vacate his net, Hagel just flings a puck towards the net and Hill whiffs on it. Brandon Hagel (Mitchell Chaffee, JJ Moser) 3-3
54.1 – Nikita Kucherov! Goal scorers get the bounces. After Hill stops him one more time, Kucherov fires it from the corner and it hits a skate in the crease and goes past the goaltender. Nikita Kucherov (Victor Hedman, JJ Moser) 4-3 Lightning
0:00 – The Lightning win it! What a nice comeback for them. They never stopped playing their game and it paid off with two late goals.
The Charts:
Pregame information:
Lines in warm-ups:
When asked what he liked about the season’s defensive start, Coach Cooper responded, “The two goals allowed.” He also mentioned that he’s not happy with some of the Grade A chances they’ve allowed.
Based on the morning skate, Conor Sheary is out, Cam Atkinson is in. Andrei Vasilevskiy will start in net with Aiden Hill starting for Vegas.
Some pregame notes from the Lightning:
- The franchise leader in points against the Golden Knights is, of course, Nikita Kucherov with 3 goals and 16 assists in 10 career games against Vegas.
- Andrei Vasilevskiy is the only Lightning goaltender to start a game against Vegas as he has 12 appearances against them. It’s not his favorite team to face as he has a 3.21 GAA and .895 save percentage, but he does have a winning record at 5-4-3.
- Vasy is up to 295 career wins.
- Victor Hedman is 8 assists away from passing Steven Stamkos for second place in franchise history.
- The Lightning are looking to go 3-0 to start a season for the first time since 2020-21.