Hockey is back. All eyes were on the Tampa Bay Lightning Tuesday night when they opened the NHL season with a 5:30 p.m. contest against the Nashville Predators. With AMALIE Arena sold out for the 331st-consecutive game, the Bolts skated to a 5-3 win over the Predators behind two goals from Nick Paul and Nikita Kucherov, along with a penalty-shot goal from Brandon Hagel.
Tampa Bay jumped on Nashville early, starting the game with a 5-0 shot advantage and getting the game-opening goal from Kucherov 9:48 into the first period. After a clean zone entry allowed Brayden Point to pull up and send the puck to Victor Hedman at the point, Hedman quickly moved it across the zone to Kucherov, who ripped a one-timer past Juuse Saros with Steven Stamkos providing a screen in front. The Lightning finished the first with a 12-2 shot advantage and the 1-0 lead.
Nashville pushed back in the second period and outshot Tampa Bay 13-5, with Ryan O’Reilly tying the game at the 16:15 mark after Filip Forsberg found him on a 2-on-1. The game went into the third period tied at one, with Jonas Johansson making 14 saves on 15 shots through 40 minutes.
The Predators used their momentum and quickly grabbed the 2-1 lead 11 seconds into the third period with O’Reilly forcing a turnover inside the Lightning blue line and sending a pass to Forsberg, who quickly found Juuso Parssinen going to the net before he beat Johansson five hole to give Nashville their first lead of the game.
Tampa Bay quickly punched back 2:14 later with Roman Josi in the penalty box for interference. After Stamkos sent a pass to the slot for Point, a big pileup ensued in front of the net, where Paul was able to find the loose puck and jam it home to tie the game 2-2.
With the score evened up, the Bolts regained the lead just 42 seconds later when Hagel was awarded a penalty shot after getting in all alone on Saros and forcing Luke Schenn to take a holding penalty and concede a penalty shot. Skating up the left boards, Hagel patiently moved in on Saros and fired a shot just over the left pad and into the back of the net to make it 3-2 with 16:53 remaining.
Nashville refused to go away and tied the game once again with Tommy Novak scoring a power-play goal at the 8:48 mark of the third to make it 3-3.
But the decision by the Lightning coaching staff to put Paul on the top power-play unit paid dividends once again with the big forward jumping on a rebound in front and beating Saros for his second power-play goal of the night, giving Tampa Bay a 4-3 lead with 9:08 remaining.
From there, the Bolts and Johansson shut the door, collectively working to prevent Nashville from scoring another tying goal before Kucherov tucked his second goal of the night into the empty net with 1.2 seconds remaining. Johansson finished the night with 28 saves on 31 shots to earn his first win with the Lightning.
After taking a shot off the hand in the second period, Tyler Motte was unable to return for the third period and missed the remainder of the game. Bolts head coach Jon Cooper said the team should know more on Wednesday.
Bolts Quotes
- Jon Cooper on Jonas Johansson: “His game was quiet and he made himself big. He wasn't erratic. He just played positional goal and when the heat got turned up, his heart rate didn't go up. You kind of want to see that in your goaltender. We saw glimpses of that in the preseason, but again, they're preseason games. Now, when the lights are on you, how are you going to do? You'd have to say he passed the test.”
- Brandon Hagel on Nick Paul: “He was really good tonight. Obviously, a big boy, big body down there, tapping pucks in and doing his job. That’s what you call money-makers.”
- Nick Paul on his performance on the power play: “When you’re with good players, you just try to get them the puck. And then my job is just stay in there, take the goalie away and then the trash in front, put it in. Just got to keep it going and build confidence.”
Bolts by the Numbers
- Brayden Point played in his 500th career NHL game and became the 11th skater in Lightning history to register 500 games with the franchise.
- Steven Stamkos extended his point streak against Nashville to 13 games (10-12—22). He also has pointed in eight consecutive home games against the Predators, tallying 12 points (5-7—12) during that span.
- Brandon Hagel became the 7th player in NHL history to score on a penalty shot in a season opener.
- Nikita Kucherov has pointed in eight straight games against the Predators (7-8—15), along with four consecutive home games against Nashville (3-4—7).
Lightning Look Ahead
The Bolts will be back on the ice for practice Wednesday and Friday before traveling to Detroit Friday afternoon. Tampa Bay will face the Red Wings at Little Caesars Arena Saturday night at 7 p.m. ET before heading straight to Ottawa for the second half of back-to-back games, taking on the Senators at Canadian Tire Centre Sunday night at 7 p.m. ET.
Krenner’s Three Stars
- Nick Paul
- Brayden Point
- Nikita Kucherov
