In a wild affair on Kids Day at Amalie Arena, the Lightning battled their way back from three separate deficits and rallied for a stirring victory over the Oilers.
The game didn’t start well for the Lightning, however. Not well at all. They yielded a shorthanded goal to Derek Ryan at 3:39 on a play in which Ryan never actually attempted a shot. Instead, the puck slid off Ryan’s stick and went in between the pads of Jonas Johansson. The Oilers gained momentum from that early tally. They added a second goal when James Hamblin wristed a shot from the slot past Johansson’s glove at 8:31.
Edmonton could have scored more than two goals in the opening frame. The Oilers recorded 20 shots on goal and generated plenty of dangerous looks. The Lightning weren’t as tight in their coverage as they needed to be, so they can thank Johansson for erasing most of those Edmonton scoring chances.
But the Oilers weren’t exactly buttoned up defensively, either. The Lightning created some good opportunities of their own — still, Stuart Skinner kept them off the board until the final minute of the period. On what was the Lightning’s third power-play opportunity already in the game, they received a fortunate bounce. Nikita Kucherov’s attempted pass to Nick Paul (who was open in front of the Edmonton net) hit off Mattias Ekholm and deflected into the net.
In the second period, both clubs did a better job of limiting opposition time and space. They combined to post just 11 shots on net — two went in. During a four-on-four, Kucherov followed his own blocked pass and snapped a shot from the low slot past Skinner. Nearly three minutes later, the Oilers took the lead back. During a goalmouth scramble, Ryan was able to knock the puck in the net. It was 3-2 in favor of Edmonton after 40 minutes.
The Lightning hadn’t won a game this year in which they trailed entering the third period. But they showed their mettle in this one, twice tying the game in the final frame before taking the lead. Mikhail Sergachev broke up a play in the defensive zone and delivered a long outlet to Mikey Eyssimont, which created a rush chance for the Lightning. Eyssimont fed Tanner Jeannot a cross-ice pass, and Jeannot rifled it into an open side of the net at 3:54.
With the game still tied at three, Brandon Hagel was whistled for tripping at 7:08. Twenty-three seconds later, however, Zach Hyman committed a holding penalty, taking the Oilers off the power play. But during the ensuing four-on-four, Edmonton regained the lead. Evan Bouchard snapped a right-circle shot past Johansson at 8:04, and the Lightning trailed by a goal once more.
When the four-on-four ended, the Lightning only had the 23 seconds of power-play time. But they made the most of those 23 seconds. They entered the offensive zone just as Hagel left the penalty box. As time wound down on the Hyman minor, Kucherov passed the puck from the right circle to Brayden Point in the bumper spot. Point hurried it back to Kucherov, who wired a cross-ice pass to Steven Stamkos at the left circle. Skinner didn’t have time to react, and Stamkos one-timed his shot into the net.
Just 39 seconds after the Stamkos tally, the Lightning grabbed their first lead of the game. Off the rush, Cole Koepke backhanded a pass from the right circle to Luke Glendening, who was skating towards the net. Glendening redirected it past Skinner at 10:07.
The Oilers applied heavy pressure during the second half of the third period (13 of their 15 third-period shots came after the Glendening goal), but couldn’t tie things up. The Lightning navigated through one final penalty kill successfully before Sergachev sealed the win with an empty-net goal at 19:05. Following a Nick Paul d-zone faceoff win, Sergachev collected the puck in the corner and lifted it high in the air. It hit the ice in the Edmonton end and slid into the open net.
This game had elements in it that weren’t conducive to a Lightning victory. They were shorthanded five times against the dangerous Edmonton power play, and they allowed three goals to depth players on the Oilers. But the penalty killers did a masterful job in going 5-5, and the Lightning ended up holding Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl without a single point in the game.
Conversely, the Lightning not only received depth scoring, they also got goals from their stars. And their power play cashed in twice.
Next up is Monday’s game against the Boston Bruins, who have jumped out to a big lead in the division.
Lightning Radio Three Stars of the Game (as selected by Braydon Coburn):
- Nikita Kucherov — Lightning. Two goals and assist.
- Mikhail Sergachev — Lightning. Goal and two assists.
- Luke Glendening — Lightning. GWG.
