Given a boost from Jeannot’s fight, the Bolts got back to their game and evened the score at the 15:53 mark with a dart from Mikey Eyssimont. Taking a pass across the neutral zone from Connor Sheary, Eyssimont skated into the Vancouver zone, got to the left circle and leaned into a shot that was wired right over the glove of Demko for his first goal of the season.
Similarly to how Vancouver got back-to-back goals to start the period, Tampa Bay scored just 1:09 later to go back up by one. After Nikita Kucherov calmly handled a pass along the boards from Brandon Hagel, he turned towards the top of the right circle and ripped a quick wrist shot through traffic that went top shelf and made it a 3-2 game with 3:08 remaining in the middle frame.
But Kucherov wasn’t done there and added a second tally with the Lightning on the power play early in the third period. After Paul was denied on a power move to the net, he won a puck battle along the wall with the help of Brayden Point and went back towards the net before putting the puck on a platter for Kucherov, who quickly fired a one-timer past Demko to make it 4-2 with 15:18 remaining.
Vancouver crawled back within one on a late goal from J.T. Miller with Demko on the bench for an extra attacker, but Jonas Johansson shut the door for the remainder of the contest and helped the Bolts move to 2-0-0 on home ice this season. Johansson finished the night with 26 saves on 29 shots against.
Bolts Quotes
Jon Cooper: “Jeannot is one of those guys that can turn a game like that. There's not a lot of guys that will look that guy in the eye. When you see those things happen, physical presence, it makes guys a little bit taller on the bench. But there's been a lot more to Jeano's game. He's been big, physical. He's on the forechecks. He's around the net. I'm just really, really happy with his game.”
Mikey Eyssimont: “I changed something up this year. I went with Point’s curve, but on a lefty. Pointer told me nice shot after the game. I said, ‘Nice curve.’”
Nick Paul: “We don’t want to be a losing team. What winning teams do is they answer and we knew we’d answer. Jeano stepped up big and got the energy going and then from there we just kind of built off it and took it over.”
Jon Cooper on Eyssimont’s goal: “Big goal for us. After that tough shift we had to open the period and gave up two, we just felt stale and I thought his goal kind of gave us that life we needed. Then, I think Kuch took over after that.”
Bolts by the Numbers
- Tanner Jeannot recorded another four hits and leads the Bolts with 16 on the season. He is tied for the fourth-most hits among NHL skaters.
- With one assist, Steven Stamkos has now picked up points in 15 of his 19 career games vs. Vancouver (16-12—28).
- Nikita Kucherov has posted a multi-point effort in nine of his last 12 games vs. Vancouver (8-10—18).
- Anthony Cirelli won eight of 11 faceoffs (73%) and currently ranks third among all NHL skaters with a 63.8% faceoff win percentage (minimum 30 faceoffs).
- With one assist, Brandon Hagel has found the scoresheet in four of five games this season and is tied with Nikita Kucherov for the team lead in points (both: 4-2—6).
Krenner’s Three Stars
- Nikita Kucherov
- Nick Paul
- Tanner Jeannot
Lightning Look Ahead
