TAMPA, Fla. - The Tampa Bay Lightning struck twice early in the first period and never looked back, beating Utah Hockey Club 8-0 Thursday night.
“It’s really disappointing the way we came out,” Utah head coach André Tourigny shared postgame. “Didn’t win enough battles, didn’t get on the inside. You play against a good team like that, you need to be ready to fight and in our situation it’s disappointing and it’s everybody. Everybody’s in the same boat. We’re all together - coaches, players, we all have to look ourselves in the mirror. That’s unacceptable.
“The good thing is we’re playing tomorrow,” Tourigny continued. “So (we) just have to look ourselves in the mirror and make sure we have a chance to redeem ourselves.”
Tampa Bay got on the board early when Jake Guentzel scored a minute and a half into the first period. Guentzel capitalized on a rebound of Nikita Kucherov’s initial shot to give the home team a 1-0 lead. Three minutes later, Lightning struck twice when Victor Hedman shot through traffic and scored, making it 2-0 for Tampa.
Nine minutes in, Erik Cernak hit Utah Captain Clayton Keller and Logan Cooley immediately responded. Cooley was sent off for interference; however, Utah’s penalty kill came up strong and kept the eighth-best power play off the board. Following the penalty, Michael Kesselring and Cernak dropped the gloves and both were sent off for fighting majors.
“That’s very nice,” Sergachev shared of Cooley standing up for Keller. “Obviously Cooley is not the biggest guy, he goes up to Cernak who’s probably one of the biggest guys in the league and stands up for his teammate. That says a lot about this group and how tight we are.”
Late in the first, Utah had one of its best chances in the opening frame. Alexander Kerfoot found Barrett Hayton on a 2-on-1; however, Hayton’s shot went high. Although Tampa’s pressure early in the first was overwhelming for Utah, the visitors entered the first intermission with some momentum going their way with improved play in the final minutes of the first period.
Five minutes into the second period, with a lot of net front pressure, Tampa’s Gage Goncalves deflected in Emil Lilleberg’s shot to make it 3-0. Nine minutes into the middle frame, after a lost faceoff, Tampa showed their speed as Brayden Point and Nikita Kucherov entered the zone. Point passed to Kucherov who backhanded it past Karel Vejmelka. Following the goal, Utah pulled Vejmelka and Jaxson Stauber took over. Vejmelka finished the night with seven saves on 11 shots through 29:14 played.
Late in the second period, Tampa Bay went on the power play. Just five seconds in Jake Guentzel capitalized, scoring his second of the night to give the Lightning a 5-0 lead. With 23 seconds left in the middle frame, Oliver Bjorkstrand scored, which extended Tampa’s lead to 6-0 heading into the second intermission.
Nine minutes into the third period, Nikita Kucherov’s shot hit the post and Brayden Point hit the rebound midair into the back of the net. The goal gave Tampa Bay a 7-0 lead. With five minutes left in regulation, Oliver Bjorkstrand scored the final goal of the game, his second of the night, which increased the Lightning’s lead to 8-0. Jaxson Stauber finished the night with six saves on 10 shots.
