The Tampa Bay Lightning are fresh off of another win last night against the Dallas Stars, winning 2-1 in overtime. This victory marks the fourth win in a row for the Lightning, rallying the team back up the standings after a disappointing start to the year.
Milestone Night
The turn around to the Bolts season started last Saturday with a 4-3 win against the Anaheim Ducks. The game featured several big milestones for the Lightning, most notably Nikita Kucherov’s 1000th NHL point. Slightly lost in the grand occasion, Victor Hedman and Brandon Hagel reached career milestones later in the game, one the same play. Both players notched assists on Anthony Cirelli’s 2nd period goal, giving Hedman his 800th career point, and Hagel his 300th.
Keeping the train going
Needless to say, that win and those moments for the Lightning as a team was massive, not only personally but for the whole morale of the team. The Lightning capped off their back to back weekend with another win against the Vegas Golden Knights, winning 2-1 in overtime. The win got more monkeys off some backs with Brandon Hagel’s first goal of the season, and Andrei Vasilevskiy’s first win of the year.
Big game in Nashville
Tuesday’s game against Nashville brought more good fortune for the lightning. Easily their most dominant win of the season thus far, beating the Predators 5-2 in Nashville. Zemgus Girgensons had himself a 2 goal performance, as well Vasilevskiy picked up his second win in as many games.
However, the highlight of the night went to 27 year old, undrafted defenceman Charle-Edouard D’Astous. Playing in only his third NHL game, the defenseman picked up his first goal of his career, when Braydon Point found D’Astous trailing in the high slot on a 3 on 2. D’Astous made no mistake with a beautiful shot and goal to put the Bolts up 3-1 in the game. D’Astous had himself an amazing game, leading all Lightning players in adjusted game score per HockeyStatCards
Make that four in a row
This brings us to last night, wherein the Tampa Bay Lightning overcame the Dallas Stars 2-1 in Overtime. D’Astous would pick up his second point of his career, assisting on Brandon Hagel’s goal in the 2nd period to open the scoring. Hagel, who had only 1 point in the Lightning’s first 7 games of the season, has really turned things around quickly for himself. With another goal last night, Hagel now has 7 points in his last 4 games, including 3 goals.
The game against the Stars was tight checking, with neither team gaining extended offensive zone times. The Lightning did a good job racking up the shot count, something they have struggled with early this year, but a steady Jake Oettinger kept the Bolts to only one goal on 30 shots through regulation.
Overtime favoured the Lightning, when Anthony Cirelli was able to check off a pass from Mikko Rantenen intended for Wyatt Johnston in the point. Cirelli pushed the puck up the ice, and beat Johnston with speed to secure the puck and take it in on a breakaway, beating Oettinger with a neat move in tight.
The win against the Stars made four in a row for the Lightning, bringing them right back into contention and up to 4th in the Atlantic Division. A tough start completely turned around through veteran determination. With teams such as Toronto, Florida and Ottawa also struggling out of the gate, this winning streak couldn’t have come at a better time.
Now that the moment has been found, the goal is to maintain it, and try and contend for that top spot in the division early. The Bolts will be back in action Sunday afternoon in Utah, to take on Mikhail Sergachev and the Mammoth.
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