The Bolts
The Lightning did a very good thing. Taking advantage of a Penguins team that played the night before and a backup goalie (Antti Niemi) who hasn’t been very good, the Lightning lit up the defending champs to the tune of 7-1. Six different players scored (Nikita Kucherov scored twice because, well, he’s pretty awesome). Oh, and Andrei Vasilevskiy was his usual elite self stopping 28-of-29 shots. [Raw Charge]
Speaking of Vasilevskiy – this was a pretty good save:
Power Play part Deux: Everyone knows about the Lightning’s first unit, powered by Steven Stamkos, Nikita Kucherov and Vlad Namestnikov, but the second unit hasn’t been too shabby, either. [Raw Charge]
The Stamkos/Kucherov Connection is off to a pretty good start:
Nikita Kucherov & Steven Stamkos are 1st pair of teammates to start season on 9-game point streaks since 2001-02 (Demitra & Weight w/ STL). pic.twitter.com/wwgJfo829F
— NHL Public Relations (@PR_NHL) October 22, 2017
Bolt Run: The Lightning held their 17th Annual Bolt Run with proceed benefiting the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society and the March of Dimes:
Every #BoltRun participant is going home with some bling! 🏅 pic.twitter.com/KVqAOp7hQc
— Lightning Foundation (@LightningFDN) October 21, 2017
The Prospects
Crunch win! Connor Ingram picks up his first win as the Crunch defeat Springfield 4-1. Michael Bournival scored twice while Tye McGinn and Jason Akeson tallied one a piece. [Stats – AHL.com]
For the second game in a row the Adirondack Thunder dug a pretty deep hole (four goals this time). They were able to mount enough of a comeback to garner a point in a 5–4 OT loss to Reading. Ty Loney scored his third goal of the season and Nick Riopel stopped 29 of 34 shots. [Stats – ECHL.com] [Game Story]
Riopel’s daughter debuted on Twitter.
#KloeRiopelIsCuterThanRileyCurry pic.twitter.com/ntIbATcgpc
— Adirondack Thunder (@ECHLThunder) October 21, 2017
The Game
Trade Time: In order to sign Andreas Athanasiou the Red Wings had to clear some cap space. They did that by trading Riley Sheahan and a fifth-round pick to Pittsburgh for Scott Wilson and a third-round pick. They also moved Ryan Sproul to the Rangers for Matt Puempel. [Winging it in Motown]
The NHL Admits a Mistake: Nope, it’s not using a skills competition as a tiebreaker. The league admitted that officials incorrectly took a goal away from Colorado in their game against St. Louis. After Mikko Rantanen scored late in the third period, St. Louis challenged the goal as being offside. Colorado was offside, just not on the play that was eligible to be reviewed. Colorado lost 4-3. [Mile High Hockey]
Josh Bailey scored a very nice goal:
Josh Bailey will get his name on the Goal of the Year ballot for this one https://t.co/huhOyMxUZh pic.twitter.com/X34pUs3L8l
— Yahoo Sports NHL (@YahooSportsNHL) October 22, 2017
Upper Deck released their Young Guns checklist. Jake Dotchin collectors open your wallets, he’s getting his own rookie card. [Upper Deck]
