The Tampa Bay Lightning won their sixth third straight game after defeating the Edmonton Oilers 4-2 at the Tampa Bay Times Forum on Thursday night.
Tampa Bay goalie Ben Bishop earned his tenth win this season as he made 38 saves against Edmonton.
“It’s a team sport and Bishop can play as well as he wants but we still have to put some pucks in the net to win the game, so we get three but as they say about goal tenders, you want your goaltender to make the saves he should and if you can make him make a few that maybe he shouldn’t, you got a great chance of winning,” Lightning Coach Jon Cooper said after the game.
The Lightning scored first when Oilers forward Nail Yakupov turned the puck over at the point and Steven Stamkos cashed in with an unassisted goal at 7:37 of the first period for his fifth goal in as many games.
It wouldn’t be the only time Stamkos scored in the game and it wouldn’t take him long to do it again.
Not even three minutes later though, Edmonton caught the Bolts off guard on a line change as the Oilers quickly transitioned into the Lightning’s zone and Taylor Fedun put the puck in behind Bishop at 10:11 of the first period.
As the first period started to expire, Stamkos simply stole the puck from Jordan Eberle in Edmonton’s offensive zone, held onto the puck and scored on a wrap around for Stamkos’ second unassisted goal of the game. Stamkos extended his point streak to seven games (six goals and six assists).
The Lightning didn’t put too much offensive pressure on the Oilers in the middle frame until halfway through the second period.
Forward Tyler Johnson worked hard in front of the net throughout the game and it paid off in the second period when he tallied his fourth goal of the season at 18:33. Richard Panik and Radko Gudas has the assists on Johnson’s goal.
Edmonton attempted a comeback in the third period when forward Taylor Hall, who had been robbed all night, tallied goal his fourth goal of the season on a wrister that came from the right circle at 10:23. Eberle had the lone assist on Hall’s goal. Hall had missed the previous seven games due to a knee injury.
The Oilers failed to make a comeback as Lightning forward Valterri Filppula got an empty net goal with 1:05 left to go in the game to seal the win for Tampa Bay.
Tampa Bay is in action next when they travel to Detroit to play their new Atlantic Division rival the Detroit Red Wings on Saturday.
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-Steven Stamkos has 10 goals in his last 12 games.
-The Lightning play the Oilers again this season, this time in January in Edmonton.
-Radko Gudas led all Lightning skaters with 22:42 in ice time logged.
-The Lightning are 6-0-0 against Western Conference teams this season
-Thursday’s attendance at the Tampa Bay Times Forum was 18, 695.
