Oilers duo of Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl are all the scoring Edmonton needs to defeat the Lightning in a nail-biter. Lightning was without Erik Cernak and Anthony Cirelli who are day-to-day with injuries. Steven Santini was called up from the Syracuse Crunch but was not included in tonight’s lineup. As the night went on breakaways would be killer for Tampa and be the reason why they would lose the game. Goaltenders were on point tonight and Edmonton’s defense made it hard to get shots on net which also plagued the Lightning throughout the night. Two goals would be reviewed with each team benefitting from each of the reviews.
Saved by a review
To begin, Oilers went on the power play in the opening minute with Hagel sent off for holding. Penalty was killed off with ease with no chance for Edmonton to score early. Then, on a breakaway the Oilers nearly scored but Vasilevskiy made the save to keep the game scoreless. That was Edmonton’s first official shot on net, and it came with five minutes gone by. Oilers continued to get their chances in front of the net and eventually found the opening goal. Lightning failed to clear the puck and that allowed Mattias Ekholm to score. However, Lightning challenged the goal for being offside and the play would be under review. After review, the play was deemed offside resulting in a successful challenge for Tampa. Game remained scoreless as Edmonton continued with their rushes on offense.
Speedy breakaway
Next, with 5:20 left in the period Tampa Bay received their first power play of the night. Oilers killed off that penalty to keep the game scoreless in the later stages of the first period. Unfortunately, Edmonton this time scored the opening goal and took the 1-0 lead. McDavid with his speed created a breakaway and there was no stopping him from scoring the goal. That would be it for the first period with the score 1-0 Oilers and they led in shots on goal 8 to 6. Other than the goal it was not a terrible period for the Lightning, but they had to do a better job with moving the puck out of their zone.
Guentzel evens the score
Lightning did a better job moving the puck and keeping it in the offensive zone. On the contrary, this did not lead to quality shots on net, but it is better than turning over the puck. As the period went on so did the shots for Tampa Bay, but they still could not find the back of the net. Eventually, Lightning tied the game up with Jake Guentzel’s 13th goal of the season. Nikita Kucherov took advantage of a turnover by the Oilers and fed the puck to Guentzel who then fired it past Stuart Skinner. It was only a matter of time before the Lightning found the back of the net after constantly lurking in front of the net.
This connection 🤝 pic.twitter.com/uWLpjiPyde
— Tampa Bay Lightning (@TBLightning) December 11, 2024
Oilers duo each net a goal
The game would not stay tied for long as Oilers took the lead off another breakaway for the 2-1 lead. Leon Draisaitl saw a lucky bounce and cashed in to regain the lead for Edmonton. Vasilevskiy tried to poke the rebound away, but it went off Victor Hedman and in the back of the net instead. Two players you never want to give a breakaway to are McDavid and Draisaitl because they will almost always make you pay the price. Soon after, yet another breakaway from Draisaitl was surrounded but this time Vasy made the save. Oilers duo continued to be the driving force of their offense tonight and kept the 2-1 lead heading into the third period.
Attempting to crack the code
Key for the third period was to prevent breakaways especially to the Oilers duo of McDavid and Draisaitl. Vasy continued to remain sturdy in net while the offense was still searching for another equalizer. Kucherov was able to get a breakaway but was saved by Skinner and that would be the Lightning’s last good scoring chance for a while. As the period went on, Tampa continued to apply pressure but surrendered their second penalty of the game. This would be an important penalty kill for Tampa as they did not want Edmonton to extend the lead at this point of the game.
Defense refuses to yield
Crucially, Lightning killed off the penalty and prevented them from scoring off the following rush. With six minutes to go it was now or never for Tampa to score the equalizer. Oilers continued a great job to tighten up their defense and prevent any shots from making it on goal. Lightning was playing better than they did in the beginning of the game but it seemed no matter what they did Edmonton had an answer. With 2:37 to go Lightning pulled Vasilevskiy to get the extra attacker on the ice.
So close yet so far
In the final minutes Lightning would get one last chance on the power play and a 6-on-4 chance followed. With 8 seconds to go it looked like Nick Paul tied the game, but it would be reviewed. After review, the call on the ice stands and there is no goal due to a high stick. All in all, the goals from Oilers duo of McDavid and Drasaitl was enough to keep the lead for Edmonton and defeat the Lightning 2-1. Lightning will look to rebound Thursday as they continue the Canada road trip in Calgary to face the Flames.
Three stars of the game
1st Star: Leon Draisaitl – 1 goal and 1 assist
2nd Star: Stuart Skinner – Saved 21 of 22 shots faced
3rd Star: Andrei Vasilevskiy – Saved 23 of 25 shots faced
