The Backcheck: Bolts dominate Sharks bringing a win on home ice

A little more than 24 hours after the 4 Nations Face-Off rosters revealed that five Tampa Bay Lightning players will represent their home countries in a best-on-best tournament this February, those same players took care of business in their Tampa Bay blue jerseys at AMALIE Arena on Thursday night.

All five players named to the 4 Nations Face-Off rosters registered at least a point, and the Lightning scored four goals in the game’s opening eight minutes, 55 seconds—the second-fastest four goals to open a game in franchise history—on their way to an 8-1 win over the San Jose Sharks.

The win improved the Lightning to 13-9-2 on the year.

Tampa Bay’s third line burst onto the scoreboard to get AMALIE Arena rocking on 90’s night, as Cam Atkinson scored his second goal in as many games with a deflection 1:26 into Thursday’s game. Atkinson then set up rookie Conor Geekie for the 2-0 goal at the 7:29 mark, which began a flurry of Lightning goals.

"We talked about it before the game, got to get to the dirty areas to hopefully get a tip, get some rebounds, and it's nice to obviously score on your first shift,” Atkinson said.

Forward Brandon Hagel scored twice in 23 seconds to make it 4-0 Tampa Bay 8:55 into the game, and Jake Guentzel’s power-play goal ended a powerful opening 20 minutes with a 5-0 advantage for the home team.

Hagel will represent Canada at the 4 Nations Face-Off, while Guentzel is Tampa Bay’s lone representative for the U.S. team. While he considers the selection an honor, Hagel said his current focus is helping the Lightning reach the playoffs.

"I don't think there's anything to it,” he said of the big night for Lightning players chosen for the 4 Nations Face-Off rosters. “The selection is the selection, I guess you could say, and we still need to come out here and do work for this team. That's (4 Nations Face-Off) months away. We're going for the playoffs here, and that's what we're going to continue to do.”

Anthony Cirelli, also named to Team Canada this week, made it 6-0 in the opening minutes of the second period on a redirected shot, and future Team Canada member Brayden Point assisted on defenseman Nick Perbix’s goal with 1:28 remaining in the second period to make it 7-0.

Thursday marked Point’s 600th NHL game, all with the Lightning. Point celebrated with a four-assist night to lead all players in scoring.

“That’s just guys finishing,” Point said. “I think we had a lot of that tonight. We had a lot of guys just putting pucks in on their chances.”

Alexander Wennberg gave San Jose their lone goal of the night 14 seconds into the third period.

Lightning forward Nick Paul scored his sixth goal of the year to close the scoring 6:01 into the final frame, burying a backhand chance near the right post in his first game back following a six-game absence due to injury.

Seven different Bolts players recorded multi-point games, tying the franchise record for most in one game (April 21, 2022 vs TOR).

Atkinson, Geekie, Hagel and Guentzel joined defensemen Victor Hedman (4 Nations Face-Off selection for Team Sweden) and Ryan McDonagh with two-point nights.

Lightning goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy made numerous key saves to keep San Jose off the scoreboard across the first two periods. He finished with 20 saves and the win, his 11th of the season.

"It was one of those nights where after two periods, the score was definitely not indicative of the game,” Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. “Everything was going in for us, and either our goalie was making a nice save or it was hitting a stick or it was getting deflected wide. Scoring chances were fairly close after two periods but the score wasn't, and it was just one of those nights.”

Tampa Bay will now begin a four-game road trip that begins with a visit to Canada. The Lightning head to Vancouver for a 4 p.m. game this Sunday and follow with games in Edmonton, Calgary and Seattle next week.

The Lightning will leave home with confidence after scoring eight goals—matching their season-high. But as Cooper has said many times this year, the NHL can be a humbling league, and the Lightning are preparing for plenty of pushback.

“It's always good to go on the road on a positive note,” Cooper said. “But I also think you’ve got to turn the page on this one and understand what we have ahead of us and some of the teams we're going to face. This will be a good test for us.”

Benjamin’s Three Stars:

1. Brayden Point, TBL (4 assists)

2. Cam Atkinson, TBL (Goal, Assist)

3. Brandon Hagel, TBL (2 Goals)