Hockey teams aren’t static. They make progress and stride forward. Or things deteriorate and they backslide. And sometimes a team’s development seems to stall, which is also significant. Despite the sloppiness in the third period, last night’s play felt like an advancement for the Lightning. In totality, the statistics look bad, but the first period metrics are encouraging as the Lightning had 18 shot attempts to the Canadiens’ 13. Ultimately, this game was reminiscent of some from last season, where the Lightning sprinted out to a two-goal lead, then took their foot off the pedal and let Andrei Vasilevskiy do the rest. But one period of good hockey is better than what the Bolts have been offering so far this fall.
Let’s look at the positives. The forwards were supporting the defensemen. The defensemen were emboldened and could pinch and step up in the neutral zone and on entries. Most importantly, the Lightning were channeling their speed effectively. For a team that prides itself on its speed, sometimes it’s amazing how many races Tampa Bay loses. But their speed was back last night, and especially evident in the first goal by Braydon Coburn.
Once again, penalties were haunting the Bolts as the Habs’ Jeff Petry struck on the power play, putting the Lightning down 1-0. But the Coburn sequence tied the game. With 1:20 left in the first frame, Ondrej Palat lost a puck battle and the puck was swept from the offensive zone. Then something wonderful happened. The puck went straight to Ryan McDonagh and the Lightning reentered the offensive zone rapidly, with Yanni Gourde crossing the blue line into the neutral zone and giving McDonagh a passing target. McDonagh passed to Gourde, who tossed an area pass on the weak side to Kevin Shattenkirk, who skated toward the puck and established possession in offensive territory.
The Coburn goal would come off the sixth shot attempt.
Tampa Bay had four big retrievals where their players won races to the puck. (The embedded clip shows Point achieving the final retrieval.) Mathieu Joseph had a big victory in a one-on-one battle above the circles relatively early in the sequence. The through line on the play was that the Lightning defensemen pinched successfully several times, and a big reason why they could do so and not get burned is that they had support from their forwards.
On the actual goal setup, credit Steven Stamkos for the outstanding reception of the puck, and for his body control to move the puck to Coburn. Coburn did a nice job with the quick shot release, firing the puck into traffic.
The Lightning banged in two quick goals to start the second period. The game-winning goal was a two-goal swing. After a turnover from Patrick Maroon gave Montreal’s penalty kill possession, Stamkos attempted to throw his body toward the boards and keep the puck in the offensive zone. But the puck popped out to Phillip Danault, leading to an odd-man rush. Brayden Point would become the hero of this goal because his back pressure on Artturi Lehkonen on the weak side forced a quick shot, and then Point went ahead and used his speed to make his impact on the offensive end.
Once the Lightning collected the puck after the near miss by Lehkonen, Victor Hedman missed Kucherov on the entry pass. But instead of the Canadiens fetching the puck and immediately clearing it from the zone, Point raced to the corner and pressured Shea Weber, forcing a turnover and enabling Kucherov to scoop up possession. Seconds later, Hedman moved the puck to Stamkos, who was just above the dot on the left circle, and he rocketed a shot past goaltender Carey Price. Point was awesome all night, and Jon Cooper rewarded him by double-shifting him with Alex Killorn and Anthony Cirelli.
Finally, the goal that gave the Lightning a cushion had echoes of the Colin White goal from the Senators game, only it was the Lightning who were this time preying on their opponent in the period of the long change.
The Canadiens chipped the puck deep to change forward lines, and McDonagh went back to retrieve it without any incoming pressure. Recognizing the absence of Montreal players in the neutral zone, McDonagh snapped a stretch pass that traveled well over 100 feet to Palat, who quickly slipped the puck to Tyler Johnson in the middle slot. The Canadiens’ defensemen had been pushed back by Gourde, opening up the seam for Palat to pass it to Johnson. But credit to Johnson—he wasted no time getting the puck off his stick. That gave the Lightning a 3-1 lead.
Despite a poor performance in the third period, this game was encouraging. After all, the Lightning registered more shot attempts through two periods. They were the faster team, and they used that advantage to win races to the puck and keep the Habs hemmed in their own zone. They forced turnovers from Montreal on their breakout. And, for a Lightning squad that has been prone to generating no shots off their forecheck or having one-and-done’s, they had multiple lines spending extended territorial time in the offensive zone and manufacturing multiple shot attempts. It is one game, but a welcome change.
Tampa Bay Lightning Blogger • 
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