The prospects for the Tampa Bay Lightning flipped the script in their second outing of the weekend showcase. Much like they did against the Nashville Predators on Friday, the Lightning scored first against the Panthers only to surrender two goals and find themselves trailing. As opposed to never regaining the lead like they did against Nashville, on Saturday they bounced back with second-period goals by Marco Mignosa and Kaden Pitre to take the lead and pick up the victory.
The offense for the Lightning looked more coherent than they did against the Predators, and for most of the game, they dealt fairly well with the Florida forecheck. There was a ten-minute period when they pinned back in the zone, and it was during that stretch that the Panthers potted two against Caleb Heil. The Bolts also struggled to capitalize on a five-minute power play early in the game as well. It was a physical (to the extreme early on) and close-fought contest where the good outweighed the bad.
Here are some random thoughts:
- Caleb Heil looked pretty good in net. He wasn’t tested as often as Harrison Meneghin was against the Predators, but Heil had to deal with traffic in front of him on pretty much every shot that came his way. The two goals he allowed were both tough ones: the first was a deflection at the back post while the second came off of a rebound off of a post that changed direction on him as he was sliding across the net. He had a really big save following the unsuccessful five-minute power play where he stopped a two-on-one opportunity.
- Sam O’Reilly had a solid game that featured what he brings to the ice. One of the nicer plays came as he exited the penalty box. He gathered up the puck in the neutral zone and rather than try and beat a defender one-on-one, chipped the puck to the end boards and went in and won the puck battle behind the net to set up a scoring chance. He was in the right spot most of the night defensively.
- Ethan Czata had a bit of a rougher game than in his first outing. He seemed to be fighting the puck most of the night.
- Tristan Allard (who scored the first goal on a redirection of a Jan Golicic point shot) and Dylan Duke had pretty good games.
- It seemed head coach Joel Bouchard might have been game-planning for the Crunch’s season a bit as he rolled out some all-Syracuse lines throughout the game. He also had Dyllan Gill and Roman Schmidt paired with Max Groshev most of the night, a couple of combinations that Syracuse will deploy throughout the season.
- Groshev is going to be chaos this season. He was at his roaming best at times, flying up the ice with the puck. He also had a couple of turnovers in his own zone where he tried to make a complicated pass instead of banging it off the boards and out. It’s still a learning process for him, but it is going to be fun to watch.
- He wasn’t the only one that struggled with clears at time. Especially during the stretch where the Panthers scored. More than one player was a little too tentative with the puck when they had the chance to clear, which allowed Florida to pick the puck off and keep it in the zone.
- If nothing else, they understood the assignment. The first ten minutes featured a fight (Grant Spada continues to build his legend among Bolts fans) and a boarding call that led to a game misconduct for the Panthers. Things did settle down a bit as the game progressed, but it appears the Panthers/Lightning rivalry will survive another generation of players.
- Unfortunately, the boarding by Hunter St. Martin did leave to Connor Kurth leaving the game early and not returning.
- Lucas Mercuri is quietly having a solid showcase. He’s been working hard and has had a physical presence on the forecheck.
The Lightning have the day off and will then wrap up the showcase with a game against the Carolina Hurricanes on Monday at 3:00 PM. Catch the stream on the Lightning’s website, or if you’re in the broadcast area, watch it on Tampa Bay 66 WXPX.
