Anthony Cirelli had two goals, Nikita Kucherov notched three assists to reach 500 in his career, and Waltteri Merela scored his first NHL goal as the Tampa Bay Lightning turned a close game into a blowout with three third period goals to take down the Minnesota Wild 7-3. For the second consecutive game the Lightning went 3-for-3 on the power play.
Defense wasn’t necessarily at a premium, especially during the first two periods as both teams had gaffes that led to chances and goals. While the Lightning’s offense was humming along, they were a little loose in their own zone at times, especially on the third Minnesota goal where defenseman Jacob Middleton was able to waltz right down the most dangerous part of the ice unmarked to score his sixth goal of the season. After that, the Lightning did settle things down a bit and kept the Wild off of the board.
The teams combined for 62 scoring chances and 23 high-danger chances while the goalies faced 71 shots. So, yeah, not a lock-down game by any means. Still, that’s not surprising with the Lightning a bit rusty after so much time off and the Wild struggling a bit (and having announced that their captain, defenseman Jared Spurgeon, had season-ending back surgery).
In the end, it was a nice victory to wrap up the homestand for the Bolts and it allowed them to hang onto the second wild card spot in the Eastern Conference. They’ll head out on the road for what could be a pretty important three-game trip as they have Buffalo, Detroit (who they are tied with in points), and then Philadelphia (second in the Metro). Hopefully they can keep the offense cooking away from Amalie Arena.
The Goals
Victor Hedman (Brayden Point, Nikita Kucherov) 1-1
Anthony Cirelli (Brayden Point, Victor Hedman) Power Play, 2-1 Lightning
Watteri Merela (Conor Sheary, Nick Perbix) 3-1 Lightning
Brayden Point (Nikita Kucherov) 4-2 Lightning
Steven Stamkos (Nikita Kucherov, Victor Hedman) Power Play, 5-3 Lightning
Mikey Eyssimont (Anthony Cirelli, Darren Raddysh) Power Play, 6-3 Lightning
Anthony Cirelli (Brandon Hagel, Victor Hedman) 7-3
