Not all of the Lightning’s victories this year will deserve a spot in the Louvre, but even the smear of a four-year old’s paint on some construction paper begrudgingly pinned to the refrigerator door is worth two points in the NHL, and the Lightning earned those two points with a 3-1 victory over the St. Louis Blues. Nikita Kucherov picked up two points while Gage Goncalves scored his first career goal in the NHL.
In net, Andrei Vasilevskiy was busier than one would expect, but he was up to the task, stopping 31 of 32 shots for the victory. A quiet night on the power play for the Bolts only generated one shot on goal in three chances, but their penalty kill was successful in the two chances against.
It wasn’t the cleanest first period of the season for the Lightning as both teams were clogging up passing lanes and not allowing much in the way of chances. Even with each team getting a full power play in the opening frame the teams combined for just 17 shots on goal. Luckily for the Lightning one of their shots found the back of the net.
The play started in their own zone, where a big hit freed up the puck for the Lightning to clear. Brandon Hagel sent them into the zone with a nice pass to Conor Geekie. The rookie forward hit a driving Anthony Cirelli who backhanded the puck over Binnington to open the scoring.
If you’re the Blues, you’re probably wondering how you were down in this game midway through it. They were absolutely controlling the pace of play, especially after Nick Perbix had finished off a nifty passing play from Kucherov and Point to double the lead. Spending most of the period in the Lightning zone, they finally struck pay dirt when Pavel Buchnevich slammed home a feed from Robert Thomas.
The game was tilting the wrong way for the Lightning until a budding superstar took the game into his own hands. Off a transitional rush, Gage Goncalves found himself in a shooting position in the left circle and let the shot rip. It beat Jordan Binnington cleanly and the rookie had his first career NHL goal.
The Blues decided that was enough for Binnington, who had surrendered 3 goals on 10 shots. Joel Hofer had to be on his game as the Lightning offense operated with a sense of urgency for the first time all night. Hofer was spectacular stopping NIkita Kucherov and Jake Guentzel from in close and then watching as Nathan Walker dropped low to prevent Brayden Point from putting it into an empty net.
Tampa Bay was dictating play and the crowd was into it, especially after Emil Lilleberg slowed down Brayden Schenn with a hip check and then took the veteran down in the ensuing fight. The late surge in play allowed the Lightning to even things in regards to scoring chances after seeing the Blues pull ahead in that category early in the period.
After a third period against the Blue Jackets where the Lightning allowed Columbus back into the game with some sloppy puck management, Tampa Bay made sure not to make that mistake against the Blues. While St. Louis had their moments and generated their share of zone time, the Lightning rallied in front of the net to deny any sustained high-pressure. Through the first three quarters of the period, the Blues were only able to generate one high-danger chance.
When they needed it, the Lightning were able to generate pressure of their own to bleed off a little more clock. Hofer only had to face two shots through the first 15 minutes or so, but they were solid chances for the Lightning as Point and Raddysh had good looks at the net turned aside. Unlike their game a few nights ago, the Bolts didn’t sacrifice defense for the sake of generating another goal. They simply took what St. Louis offered them.
Eventually, the Blues pulled Hofer, and Vasilevskiy immediately tried to tee one up from distance, but his less than successful attempt was knocked down by Cam Fowler before it even left the Lightning zone. While the Bolts never did find the back of the empty net (Victor Hedman’s wide-open shot fluttering over the crossbar was their best chance) they also only allowed one shot on goal by the Blues. Time eventually expired and the Bolts had their fourth win in a row.
The Goals
Anthony Cirelli (Conor Geekie) 1-0 Lightning
Nick Perbix (Nikita Kucherov, Brayden Point) 2-0 Lightning
Pavel Buchnevich (Robert Thomas ) 2-1 Lightning
Gage Goncalves (Nikita Kucherov
) 3-1 Lightning
