The Beat Goes on For Lightning

Deja vu. The Tampa Bay Lightning face the struggling Nashville Predators at Bridgestone Arena. Andrei Vasilevskiy returns after his night off after starting the first 9 games of the season. Tampa Bay looked to build off the strong play they had in the first 40 minutes of the game last night and tighten up in the final frame

The scoring was often and it started early. They did start the first five minutes a little slow allowing a goal from Nashville’s Grimaldi and Roman Josi hit iron shortly after. Then, Lightning struck. Steven Stamkos continues his hot streak slamming home a rebound just seconds after the Lightning power play ended. Onjre Palat scored what would be the eventual Game winning goal on the powerplay firing a one timing from Stamkos past Saros to give the Lightning a go ahead 2-1 lead. After some impressive net minding from Vasilevskiy mikhael Sergachev shot a perfect lay up to mathiue Joseph who was crashing the net. Only twenty minutes had gone by but it was clear who was in control of the game

The 2nd period was quite in comparison to with the game. Both teams had excellent netminding on both ends of the ice. The Game definning play occurred at 3:37 of the 2nd when Roman Josi gave a beautiful pass to Jeff Sissons who scored to cut the lead to one again. Tampa Bay challenged the play for offsides and won. Sissons who had an infamous goal called back in game 6 of the 2016 Stanley Cup final was understandably unhappy. Neverthelessthe lead went back to 3-1 heading into the final frame

That called back goal removed all the life for Nashville. The bolts scored 3 more goals Yanni Gourde got on the score sheet at 13:20 of the period putting home another Tampa friendly rebound. After a shift of absolute bombardment Steven Stamkos finished the job with his second goal of the game and 7th of the season. Mathuie Joseph tipped in a Victor Hedman blast for his 2nd goal of the game and the dagger 6th goal of the night by the Bolts. The Lightning chased the Predators off their home ice with their tail between their legs. The final scoring ending at 6-1 and Tampa is off a one of the franchises strongest starts ever at 9-1-1

This time the Lightning were able to say what Tom Brady said after the Tampa Bay Buccaneers Super Bowl victory “We played our best game tonight” They did. Aside from a few chances they completly dictated the flow of the game. Play Shut down hockey at both ends of the ice. Steven Stamkos looks the healthiest he’s been in years. Andrei Vasilevskiy is having a Vezina caliber season. It’s a good time to be a sports fan in Thunder Bay