The Bolts
6-0-0 at home and 9-1-1 overall to start a season for the first time in franchise history. That’s what the Tampa Bay Lightning accomplished last night against the Detroit Red Wings. [Raw Charge]
Here is a list of milestones that were also hit in that game
- Andrei Vasilevskiy played in his 100th game and earned 50th win.
- Nikita Kucherov tied Martin St. Louis for the franchise record with an 11-game point streak.
- Steven Stamkos also tied MSL for the same record!/
That’s just silly.
Also, after ending Antti Niemi’s career, the Lightning might have ended the Red Wings.
Red Wings captain Henrik Zetterberg following TB loss: “We’re not good enough to win games.”
— The Athletic (@TheAthleticDET) October 27, 2017
Progress reports are in, kids! Take a look at how the Lightning players have performed after their first 10 games. Keep in mind Andrej Sustr’s stats are NSFW. “Starting off with eight wins in ten games is great. But if we’re honest, the Lightning are fortunate to have that record. They have not played well enough to justify their record. Good luck isn’t a bad thing. But it isn’t sustainable either.” [Raw Charge]
Sports are entertainment. And in entertainment we, the fans, tend to ship couples or partnerships. Well, we are here to tell you to ship Vadim Shipachyov and the Tampa Bay Lightning. “While the Tampa Bay Lightning have a solid roster, adding a player of his pedigree to slot in on the third line could be the depth that pushes this team over the top.” [Raw Charge]
In a great read from The Hockey News, Ken Campbell explains how Stamkos has evolved into Kucherovs set-up man and how it’s led to the most dangerous duo in hockey. “If you break down Stamkos’ 17 assists this season, you see that the majority of them are situations where he’s looking for the open man, in most cases Kucherov.” [The Hockey News]
That shot… 🔥 #DETvsTBL pic.twitter.com/vjKauqUXEU
— Tampa Bay Lightning (@TBLightning) October 27, 2017
Alex Killorn was a possession god against Detroit last night. “Killorn caught up to the puck in the offensive zone and pinned it along the far boards for five seconds, 10, 20, 30. It seemed like an eternity to the Wings, who were on a power play and had pulled their goalie trying to overcome a one-goal deficit in the final minute.” [Tampa Bay Times]
The Prospects
Erik Condra is making progress towards his return to the Syracuse Crunch. But the fact that there is no set timetable is understandably fustrating. “Condra, the team’s captain, looks great and is clearly on the cusp of a return from off-season back surgery. But these last few steps toward toward recovery are the slowest, and there’s no way of knowing for sure when they will come.” [Syracuse]
“Defensive Kucherov” Oleg Sosunov has five goals this season… And zero assists. Shrug. Meanwhile his captain, Brett Howden, can’t stop having three-point nights. “Moose Jaw won its third consecutive game on their road trip, 6-4 in Portland. Howden seemingly never left the ice and was second star. Islanders first rounder Kieffer Bellows, son of former Lightning forward Brian Bellows, matched Howden’s two goals.” [Bolt Prospects]
The Game
The Arizona Coyotes are 0-9-1 after losing to the New York Rangers. Sorry, Sarah. At least Clayton Keller looks like a dominant player already! [Five for Howling]
The Vancouver Canucks are not a great team but they are finding success with a newly-found shutdown line of Brandon Sutter, Derek Dorsett, and Markus Granlund. “Green’s taken this team and dispersed talent evenly through all four lines. Playing his checking line top line minutes is an interesting strategy that hasn’t been seen in this market arguably ever, but at least since Manny Malhotra and Ryan Kesler were playing on the 2011 squad.” [Nucks Misconduct]
Florida Panthers youngester Owen Tippett scored his first career NHL goal! Congrats to Owen and here’s to many more in his career (now, send him back to Mississauga, please. We need him desperately).
This is the Tipp of the iceberg for Owen. #ANAvsFLA pic.twitter.com/8DoXkjGOYc
— Florida Panthers (@FlaPanthers) October 27, 2017
Dimitri Filipovic talks to Craig Custance on the Hockey PDOcast about NHL coaches, opening the curtain when it comes to who they are as people and how they handled (and in some ccases are still handling) big moments in sports. [PDOcast]
I highly recommend listening to as many of these as you can, they are gold-mines for information about the game. I religiously listen when Jeff Marek is on.
The “should the Maple Leafs have drafted Noah Hanifin” storyline has arrived in the wake of Mitch Marner being played on the fourth line. “At 20 years old, Hanifin is already in his third NHL campaign, and while he hasn’t lit the world on fire yet and turned heads with consistency, his game has been strong for a young player.” [Sportsnet]
Highlight of the Night: At least this Frederik Andersen save was pretty good. [Reddit]
