The NHL should give the Tampa Bay Lightning an extra draft pick this summer for simply providing so much entertainment for casual fans. For actual Lightning fans, all of these blown leads are leading to ulcers, but those without a dog in the race should be having fun.
On Monday night, Tampa Bay built a 4-1 lead after 20 minutes and then spent the next 40 watching it evaporate. Brandon Hagel worked his usual late-game magic to tie it up, but one point would be all the Lightning would walk away with as Calle Jarnkrok tapped in a shot-pass from Morgan Reilly 46 seconds into overtime to give the Toronto Maple Leafs a 6-5 victory.
It wasn’t the greatest start of the game for the Lightning as Matthew Knies slipped in front of Jonas Johansson (27 saves on 33 shots) and backhanded a shot past the goaltender for the early 1-0 lead. Then William Nylander slipped behind the defense and had a breakaway, but slid the puck just wide.
Just as Lightning fans were consigning themselves to a night of watching the Leafs flood the ice with chance after chance, Tampa Bay struck back and struck often. Just after the Nylander chance, the Bolts sped into the zone and Nikita Kucherov hit Hedman in stride. The Big Swede took it wide and then beat Ilya Samsonov to the glove side to tie the game at one goal a piece.
Tampa Bay wasn’t done. Kucherov, coming off a five-point game against Ottawa, picked up his second point as he whipped a shot from the slot past Samsonov just under two minutes later. Then the Leafs decided it would be a good idea to start taking penalties. It was not a good idea.
Nor was it a good idea to leave Kucherov wide open at the right circle on the power play. After spending the last few games ripping shots from this spot hide or wide, Kuch slammed this one home to make it 3-1. Less than four minutes later the Bolts were back on the man-advantage and absolutely worked the Toronto defense. Kucherov had two or three beautiful set-up passes that just missed before putting one in Brayden Point’s skates in the slot. Point had all day to dig the puck out, turn and roof it into the net. Just like that it was 4-1 and Samsonov (8 saves on 12 shots) was skating to the bench and was, well, not happy:
In came Joseph Woll. Let’s take a second to look at some numbers and wonder why Joseph Woll wasn’t starting. In their careers against the Lightning prior to tonight:
Ilya Samsonov – 3.62 GAA, .867 SV%
Joseph Woll – 1.63, .960 SV%
So, what do you think happened?
Yup, Woll was pretty much a brick wall the rest of the way, stopping 18 of 19 while the Maple Leafs whittled away at the lead. Well, not so much whittle as chopped away.
First it was Auston Matthews who launched a shot from the top of the slot that a screened Johansson never saw. Even though the lead was still two goals, it didn’t look good for the Bolts. Three minutes later it was Matthews again. After a turnover in their own zone, the Lightning were late getting back as Knies skated it out and centered it to Matthews. Anthony Cirelli was a stride behind as Matthews slid it under Johansson. Thirteen goals in twelve games for the Arizona Kid.
Give the Lightning a little credit. Following the goal, they were shorthanded and the building was buzzing. They managed to kill the penalty off pretty easily and took the game to intermission still leading by a goal. We saw the Lightning weather a couple of surges from the Senators in their last game and bounce back. Not so much tonight.
Two minutes into the final frame, the lead was officially gone. Darren Raddysh tried to clear the puck up the boards and it was cut off. Nick Robertson, recalled from the AHL earlier in the day, put a shot on net that JoJo stopped, but the rebound came to an unmarked Calle Jarnkrok who put it home for the tie.
On the ensuing face-off, the Lightning tried to substitute Hedman late. The refs wouldn’t allow it, so after the puck was dropped, Mikhail Sergachev skated off and Hedman jumped on the ice. Unfortunately, it took just long enough for Mitchell Marner to sneak into a lane and wrist a shot off the rush past Johansson. Not only was the lead gone, the Bolts were trailing.
Meanwhile, Woll was stopping the limited chances coming at him, including a late power play for the Lightning as Kucherov had a bid at the hat trick, but the shot hit the goaltender up high. It looked like the Leafs were going to be able to hold onto the lead until Calvin de Haan threw a fairly innocent shot towards the net that was deflected on the way in. Woll had trouble handling it and Brandon Hagel was there to poke home the loose puck and score another late, game-tying goal.
While it was great that they earned a point, we all knew what was going to happen in overtime once the final whistle blew. Sure enough, Tampa Bay lost the opening face-off and never ended up touching the puck. Nylander jetted into the zone and dished the puck to Morgan Rielly. The defenseman sold shot but it was a pass to Jarnkrok down low. All he had to do was direct it into the wide open net for the win. He did.
The Bolts won’t have long to dwell on the loss as they will be back on the ice tomorrow against Montreal.
Lines
Goals
Matthew Knies (Mitch Marner, Auston Matthews) 1-0 Maple Leafs
Victor Hedman (Nikita Kucherov, Brayden Point) 1-1
Nikita Kucherov (Brandon Hagel, Mikhail Sergachev) 2-1 Lightning
Nikita Kucherov (Victor Hedman, Steven Stamkos) Power Play, 3-1
Braydon Point (Nikita Kucherov, Victor Hedman) Power Play, 4-1
Auston Matthews (T.J. Brodie, Mitch Marner) 4-2
Auston Matthers (Matthew Knies, Mitch Marner) 4-3 Lightning
Calle Jarnkrok (Nick Robertson, Max Domi) 4-4
Mitch Marner (Matthew Knies, Morgan Reilly) 5-4 Maple Leafs
Brandon Hagel (Calvin de Haan, Erik Cernak) 5-5
