On a night that began with Tampa Bay Lightning captain Victor Hedman patrolling the AMALIE Arena icesheet with a #TampaBayStrong flag and a video tribute to the community in the aftermath of Hurricanes Helene and Milton, the Bolts looked motivated to make their home fans proud.
They used a quick start to do just that, scoring less than four minutes into the game on their way to a 4-1 victory over the Vancouver Canucks in the team’s home opener.
Any home opener carries emotion for an NHL team, but the weight of Tuesday was felt in the Lightning locker room. Hedman said the pregame introduction added a new perspective for the team as the area continues to recover from hurricanes, adding the win was for “everybody” in the community.
“It’s another two points for us in the standings,” Hedman said, “but it means a lot more than that tonight.”
Quick goals were the story for the Lightning in all three periods.
Forward Nikita Kucherov scored his fourth goal in as many periods to kickstart the Bolts’ attack 3:55 into the game.
Kucherov forced a Canucks turnover in the offensive zone and dished the puck to Brayden Point, who pushed the puck to Darren Raddysh. Raddysh then fed Kucherov near the middle hashmark for a 1-0 advantage.
The goal gave the Russian forward a point on each of the first five #Bolts goals this season. According to NHL Stats, only five players have a longer such streak in NHL history—Connor McDavid (nine in 2018-19), Adam Oates (seven in 1986-87), Andre Boudrias (six in 1973-74), Bill Cowley (six in 1938-39) and Aurel Joliat (six in 1929-30).
Vancouver had the better start to period two and forced multiple defensive zone turnovers from the Lightning, but the home team scored the lone goal of the middle frame.
Point ripped a one-timer slap shot through Canucks goalie Arturs Silovs from the right circle for the 2-0 advantage 7:43 into the second period despite Vancouver outshooting the Lightning 9-5 in the period.
Vasilevskiy kept Vancouver off the board to take a 2-0 Tampa Bay lead into the intermission. The goalie improved to 2-0-0 this season with the win, stopping 26 of 27 Vancouver shots.
Coach Jon Cooper liked the team’s first period, but turnovers in the second hurt the Lightning.
“I was happy with a lot of things that happened tonight, just that last 15 minutes of the second period irked me,” Cooper said. “But they rallied in the third.”
Anthony Cirelli changed the look of the game 39 seconds into the third period.
Cirelli pushed a rebound through the legs of Silovs for a 3-0 lead after Hagel fed Cirelli the puck through the crease. The goal was Cirelli’s first of the season.
“It’s huge,” Hedman said of Cirelli’s goal. “Coming into the third we wanted to be better. We thought the second period wasn’t as good as we wanted it to (be), so to come out and get a goal in the first shift is always a big key.”
Vancouver scored its lone goal with one second remaining on a 4-on-3 power play 4:14 into the third period. Conor Garland found a loose puck near the goal line, tapping in his second of the season to cut the score to 3-1 Tampa Bay.
Tampa Bay’s second line of Cirelli, Hagel and Nick Paul added the empty-net goal in the final minutes of the game. The trio each had a goal and an assist to join Point in co-leading the Lightning with a game-high two points.
Point said he appreciates that the team mentality of competing has stayed strong in the locker room so far this year.
“That’s how we’re going to win games is competing and working. I’ve liked our effort in the two games. We’ve made mistakes but they’ve been mistakes when we’re trying hard so you can live with those ones and clean those up.”
He also appreciates the Tampa community for continuing to support the team in the midst of the last several weeks.
“I love this city. It feels like home really,” Point said. “My daughter was born here, it’s been home for my ninth year now. It’s tough to see what’s going on but again just so thankful that people came out and supported us.”
Bolts by the Numbers
-Kucherov and Point became the first Lightning pair since Ondrej Palat and Steven Stamkos with at least one goal in each of Tampa Bay's first two games of the season.
-Darren Raddysh recorded his first point of the season, dishing a pass to Kucherov on the game-opening goal.
-Brayden Point scored the game-winning goal at 7:43 of the second period and added the secondary assist on Kucherov's goal...Point has tallied 2-1 - 3 over his first two games this season.
-Jake Guentzel logged his third assist of the season, picking up the primary assist on Point's game-winning goal.
-Ryan McDonagh picked up the secondary assist on Point's game winner, marking his 100th point as a Bolt (20-80-100).
-Anthony Cirelli notched his first two points of the season, scoring the Bolts' third goal and adding an assist on Hagel's empty netter.
-Brandon Hagel also picked up his first two points of the season, scoring an empty-net goal and assisting on Cirelli's goal.
-Nick Paul tallied two assists to bring his point total to three (0-3-3) this season.
-Andrei Vasilevskiy recorded the 295th victory of his career and moved within five of the 300-win milestone. His 295 wins since debuting on Dec. 16, 2014 are the most in the NHL through that span... Vasilevskiy moved to 2-0-0 with a .958 save percentage and a 1.00 goals against average.
Lightning Look Ahead
The Lightning now get set to host the Vegas Golden Knights this Thursday at 7 p.m. Vegas is 3-1-0 this year.
