It didn’t take long for the Tampa Bay Lightning to get on the board, and it came from one of the areas of their game that folks might have had some questions about – the power play. The goal came off of the stick of the relatively new guy on the unit in Oliver Bjorkstrand.
Oliver Bjorkstrand (Jake Guentzel, Brayden Point) Power Play
It’s not a really complicated play. The Bolts are working the puck along the far wall and Brayden Point feeds it down low to Jake Guentzel. Ottawa is a bit passive in their defense, and they give Guentzel too much space. It’s fine if you play off the down low forward, but you have to make sure the passing lanes are shut down. That wasn’t the case.
Bjorkstrand is left unmarked as he drives the toward the net and it’s a pretty easy tap in for him as Guentzel slides the pass underneath the defense. Linus Ullmark never had a chance to make the save.
While the finish was nice, there were two moments before the goal that were nice to see with the extra skater. First, Point won the initial face-off which led to a chance. Then he made a clean entry into the zone just prior to the play that led to the goal. When the Lightning’s power play struggles, it’s because they can’t get the puck in the zone. Based on their first two power plays of the season (Nikita Kucherov would score on their second), that is something they’ve worked on and improved.
It’s been a fun start to the season. Congratulations to Oliver Bjorkstrand for getting things going.
