A disappointing first game christened Benchmark International Arena. The Tampa Bay Lightning dropped their season opener, 5 – 4 , against the Ottawa Senators. Tampa Bay had a 3-1 lead after the first, but a late 2nd period goal tied the game for the Senators.
The tie game would last until the final 2 minutes of the 3rd, when Senators Shane Pinto jammed in a rebound off of a rush chance created by defencemen Jake Sanderson. The Sens would then add an empty net goal to extend the lead 5-3, before Nikita Kucherov potted his second of the game, too little too late.
Game Highlights
The game started fast, and the Lightning were ready to go early. Recent new addition Curtis Douglas took very little time to embrace the moment in his first NHL game, when the 6’9″ forward dropped the mitts with opposing heavyweight Kurtis MacDermid, just seconds into his first shift. The fight quickly got the bench and Benchmark Arena on its feet just two and a half minutes into the game.
The Lightning got on the board first with a powerplay goal from Oliver Bjorkstrand. The goal was set up by a nice pass from Jake Guentzel across the crease, finding a breaking Bjorkstrand with his stick on the ice for a backdoor one-timer. Tampa’s powerplay did not lose a step over the offseason, and they put it to work, gaining the lead just 5 minutes in.
Brayden Point was quick to add to the lead just a few minutes later with a one-timer of his own, set up yet again by Jake Guentzel. Just 7 minutes in and the Lightning had taken a strong 2-0 lead. The Sens would get one back a few minutes later on the powerplay with a good shot from Dylan Cozens that beat Vasilevskiy short side. The Lightning would get another powerplay goal themselves, with another strong cycle and precise shot from Nikita Kucherov to restore the two goal lead, which Tampa would take into intermission.
It’s hard to say what changed after that, but the strong first period from the Lightning did not follow them into the second. The Sens scored the only two goals in the second period to tie the game heading into the third. The Lightning were kept to only 7 shots, and were held shotless in the last 8 minutes and 12 seconds of the period.
Tampa’s shooting woes would continue into the 3rd, as it would take Tampa over half the period to register their first shot on net of the 3rd. In total the Lightning were kept without a shot on goal for 18 minutes and 50 seconds between the 2nd and 3rd period, and only managed to register 3 shots total in the third.
Even though the 3rd period of the game was all Ottawa, the Lightning managed to hold fast and keep the game tied and heading towards OT. However, last minute heroics from Jake Sanderson and Shane Pinto would give the Senators the lead in the final few minutes, which was quickly extended with the empty netter. In the dying seconds of the game, Kucherov managed to ricochet the puck in off of a defender to bring it to within one, but with only 12 seconds left in the game, the Lightning were out of time.
Takeaways
If this game had been played deeper into the season, there may have been more concerns or criticisms toward the Lightning, but this is still the first game of the season. Blowing an early lead and letting your opponent score 4 uninterrupted goals is never a good look, but it’s a little too early to let it cancel the season.
Tampa’s powerplay looked extremely lethal, scoring on 2 of their 3 opportunities. As the game went on however, Ottawa simply looked like the more conditioned and readied team. The first game of the season had some of the sloppy hockey you expect from season openers, but as the game continued, the Lightning struggled to maintain the pace of play that was established early, giving the Senators more room to press the play and keep Tampa on the backfoot.
The Lightning will be back in short order, and should be excited to smooth some of the edges they uncovered in game one. Their next opponent in the New Jersey Devils won’t offer them an easier challenge, and in a division as competitive as the Atlantic, a strong start is more important than ever.
