The Backcheck: Bounced back vs. the Blues

The Tampa Bay Lightning returned to the win column on Friday night with a 5-2 win over the St. Louis Blues at AMALIE Arena. The Bolts improved to 12-7-1 on the season with the win and pushed their record on home ice to 7-3-1.

Tampa Bay opened the scoring just 3:29 into the first period when Brayden Point made a nice play in the low slot to collect the puck and toe drag around Colton Parayko before scoring his seventh goal of the season with a backhand shot that got past Jordan Binnington. In typical fashion, Brandon Hagel and Nikita Kucherov picked up the assists on Point's goal.
Before Bolts fans were able to sit down, Tampa Bay quickly made it 2-0 when Alex Killorn scored his seventh goal of the year off a great pass from Nick Paul, who took a nice little pass from Steven Stamkos and was able to slide the puck through the slot from his knees before Killorn quickly fired a one-timer past Binnington to make it 2-0. Killorn's goal came just 28 seconds after Point made it 1-0, marking the fastest two goals scored by the Bolts this season.
Leading 2-0 just 3:57 into the contest, things started to get a little chippy when Robert Bortuzzo came into the Lightning's defensive zone before he was checked by Mikhail Sergachev and went barreling into Vasilevskiy. As Bortuzzo slid into the corner, all of Tampa Bay's skaters rushed over in defense of Vasilevskiy, who quickly recovered and got back on his feet following the big collision.
"Holy cow," said Hagel when asked about the melee that occurred in the corner. "The fans were on their feet. Guys sticking up for guys and that just set the tone for the rest of the game."

Tampa Bay used that energy in the building and continued the impressive offensive start, making it a 3-0 game with a power-play goal at the 8:04 mark of the first. After Kucherov took a pass from Sergachev at the right circle, he quickly surveyed his options before sending a pass to Point in the bumper. Point immediately reacted and turned towards the net before he fired a shot right over the blocker of Binnington into the top left corner for his second goal of the period and eighth of the season.
St. Louis added a power-play goal of their own at the 16:50 mark of the first, but the Bolts used another strong start to take a 3-1 lead to the first intermission.
"We scored like three goals in the first 10 minutes and then they called a timeout and Pointer had a breakaway right after that, so yeah, I like the way we responded," said Lightning head coach Jon Cooper. "It's tough because we had a little bit of time to think about it, but to come out the way they did was obviously big for us."
Following a strong start against the Boston Bruins last Monday, Tampa Bay had a lackluster second period that led to a 5-3 loss at home. The Bolts used that second period as a reminder on Friday night, knowing they had to be better heading into the middle frame against the Blues.
"It's obviously important," said Point. "I thought our first period against Boston was really good and then the game just kind of got away from us. To come out today and put together a good 60 minutes is important."
Things looked like they could get a little messy in the second period when Jordan Kyrou scored at the 6:24 mark to make it a 3-2 game, but the feelings of anxiety didn't last long for Lightning fans after Hagel responded with his sixth goal of the season just 18 seconds after the Kyrou goal.
Point used his speed to make a great play and steal the puck off Niko Mikkola before firing a shot that went just wide past the glove of Binnington. After Point's shot rimmed around the boards, Kucherov was right there to collect the puck and feed Hagel, who turned and ripped a quick shot that restored Tampa Bay's two-goal lead.
"You've got a 3-0 lead and now you're looking up there, half the game's left and now it's 3-2," said Cooper. "We were doing a lot of good things, but it's kind of these games like, 'How do you keep responding? How do you respond when somebody hits your goalie? How do you respond after the loss to Boston? How do you respond when you have a 3-0 lead and it's 3-2?'
"They kept responding and hence, we won tonight."
The Lightning have done a terrific job of learning from their past mistakes this season and doing so in a hurry. When bad things happen in a game, it feels as though Tampa Bay immediately identifies and corrects those mistakes before making the necessary adjustments heading into the following contest.
"I think the Boston game, as well as we may have played in the first, they taught us some lessons in that game," Cooper explained. "You just can't hang your hat on a first period, just like we couldn't hang our hat on tonight's first period. We had to keep going and I thought we did that.
"We protected our net much better tonight. Did they get some looks? Of course, they did. Even that third period, we may have been in our end a little more than we liked, but in the end, we really didn't give them anything and that's what you want to do."

Kucherov and Point collected the assists on Hagel's goal and finished the night with three points each, while Hagel ended the game with two points of his own.
Kucherov recorded his 27th career three-assist game, which surpassed Artemi Panarin for the second-most among all players since Kucherov entered the NHL in 2013-14, trailing only Connor McDavid with 33.
Kucherov is up to 31 points (10G, 21A) through 20 games this season, marking the second time in his career that he's posted 30 points through 20 contests of a campaign. He also did so in 2017-18 en route to the first 100-point season of his illustrious career.
"He's world class," said Point. "I don't know if I get amazed anymore. It's funny. You almost just come to expect it with him, even though they are incredible plays. Just the way he sees the ice is incredible and it's a pleasure to watch him."
The Bolts put a bow on the win when Killorn fed Paul for an empty-net goal with 3:48 left in regulation with Stamkos picking up the secondary assist. All six members of the top two lines recorded a multi-point game on Friday.
Those six players have combined for 77 points in the Lightning's 11 November games thus far, scoring 29 goals and adding 48 assists.
Andrei Vasilevskiy got the start in goal and earned a pretty significant 237th career win. Friday marked Vasilevskiy's 200th career game at AMALIE Arena and he collected the 135th home win of his career. Jacques Plante (138) is the only goaltender in NHL history to record more wins in his first 200 career home games. Legendary goaltender Patrick Roy has 134.
The Bolts will hope for those top lines to stay hot, along with Vasilevskiy, when they hit the road for a three-game road trip, starting with a game against the Buffalo Sabres on Monday, November 28. Puck drop is set for 7 p.m. ET.