Michael_Stuart

"Covering Bolts Hockey "

" • Canada • 26 Years Old • Male

Lightning Defeat 'Canes 5-2 on Phil Esposito Night

Victories breed confidence and there is no doubting that this Lightning team is a confident group. Now, with 3 key wins in a row, the Lightning seem to have a sort of swagger that hasn’t been seen all season. Every two points hold so much weight in this league. There is so much parity that you need to make every game count. Right now, the Lightning are doing exactly that. When I laid out my predictions for this stretch I thought 2-1 on this home stand would have been fantastically acceptable. Going 3-0 just makes it that much sweeter. Now, out on the road for the next three games, the Lightning need to keep the victories coming. Here’s my post-game analysis.

The First Period
The first period started exactly as any Lightning fan would have wanted it. The offense was buzzing, the defence was limiting shots and everything seemed to be working according to plan for the Bolts. Garon made a few saves, the Lightning forwards got a few chances and all of a sudden the Bolts had a 1-0 lead thanks to none other than Steven Stamkos. The goal was quite impressive as the Bolts were able to generate a counterattack quite quickly and move the puck up ice. Give Steve Downie a lot of credit for the first assist. He was really the pioneer on the play if you ask me.

The period would end with the Carolina Hurricanes getting a late powerplay. Just as I mentioned last game, the penalty kill spent too much time chasing the puck. What happened? It resulted in a relatively easy goal for Carolina. The goalie really doesn’t have a chance on the play when two opposition players are left wide open on opposite sides of the ice. The Bolts have to do a better job of cutting down the opposition’s choices when it comes to passing plays.

Bolts Player of the Period: Steven Stamkos

The Second Period
After the first period, it was pretty clear that the Lightning deserved a better fate than a 1-1 tie. That said, hockey isn’t a game of chances or anything else; it’s all about outscoring your opponent. That’s something the Lightning had a little bit of trouble with in the first.

The second didn’t begin the way you would have hoped. The Carolina Hurricanes ended up taking the lead with a goal from Harrison. It was another powerplay goal for the ‘Canes in which the penalty killers were just scrambled all over the ice. Someone on the Bolts’ coaching staff has got to be able to identify this. Am I the only who feels like the Bolts are leaving formation way too easily? I surely hope not.

The lead was somewhat short lived as the Bolts fought back, and fought back hard. The team was just all over the loose pucks in the ‘Canes zone. It’s that kind of effort and determination gives fans that hope. There’s hope that the team can win games like this. The Bolts are somewhat of a confident group right now and that’s really showing through. Wouldn’t you know it? The player to tie up the game was Steven Stamkos on one of the prettiest goals you are going to see all year. The assists once again went to St. Louis and Downie giving them both multiple point games. Is that line hot right now, or what?

After scoring, it was powerplay time. I’m not even going to say anything other than this. The Lightning failed to score once again.

Bolts Player of the Period: Steven Stamkos

The Third Period
The third couldn’t have started any better for the Lightning. First there was this foreign thing called a powerplay goal. Finally, we got to see Stamkos unleash that bomb of a shot from the half boards like he did so many times last year. Yes, for those of you keeping track, that was his hattrick goal on the night. Congrats to Stammer on a great hatty! That goal also gave Marty St. Louis his 3rd assist of the night and 500th of his career. Overall, it was a huge goal to give the Bolts a lead on Phil Esposito night.

Before I could get up and get a glass of water, the Lightning struck again (no pun intended). This time it was Teddy Purcell with a huge rush from his own blue line right to the goal mouth. He put the puck past Cam Ward to give the Lightning a rather comfortable 2 goal lead. It would be nice to see Purcell use that speed a strength a little more often this season. Perhaps this goal will give him the confidence necessary to do so.

From there, things just seemed to unravel for the Hurricanes. There was a little bit of a lull in play but you could still tell that this was the Lightning’s game to lose. That lull didn’t last long as Steve Downie came down the ice with Ryan Malone and put a great shot past Cam Ward to extend the lead to 3. Speak of 3s, that was Downie’s third point of the night. Is it just me, or has he really cleaned up his act lately? He’s using his speed, he’s physical on the boards and he’s just creating offense.

Was it really a shock to anyone when things got a little out of hand? The ‘Canes were frustrated having given up 3 goals in a very short period of time and you knew that things had a chance of boiling over. Moore thought he had scored his 4th of the season when he put the puck past Ward. Immediately following the puck going in, a rather nasty scrum ensued. After the referees had a nice little discussion, the goal was called off for “goaltender interference”. Now, if that’s goaltender interference, the rulebook needs to be rewritten. That was a terrible call.

Bolts Player of the Period: Steven Stamkos


Overall, fans, players, coaches and management alike have all got to be happy with this afternoon’s performance. The team fought for pucks, created offense, and kept the Hurricanes offense rather dormant 5-on-5. That’s just about all you can ask from a team on any given night. The Lightning now have two days off before heading out on the road for the second half of this six game stretch. First up is the Toronto Maple Leafs. Without giving away my pre-game blog, I’ll say that this is a very winnable game. Could we make it 4 wins in a row? Only time will tell.

On another note: Steve Yzerman announced today that Victor Hedman has a concussion and is out indefinitely. Let’s hope for a quick and full recovery for the big guy.

Thanks for reading and have a happy new year. I wish all of my readers and everyone else in Lightning nation a happy, healthy and safe 2012. Thanks for making this the best team in the league to cover on a daily basis.

Follow me on Twitter: @michaelstuart93

Leave a Comment

You must be logged in to leave a comment.