After cruising past the Detroit Red Wings on Wednesday night, the Tampa Bay Lightning looked for an encore performance with Barclay Goodrow leading the way. Another franchise record awaited Tampa along with yet another victory against the Red Wings. The Bolts also wore their new retro reverse jerseys for the first time this season.
Wasted opportunities
The first period began with the Lightning carelessly turning over the puck. After the slow start, Patrik Nemeth was called for holding on Blake Coleman and the Bolts went on the power play. Unfortunately, the Lightning would not be able to score on the man advantage and that would continue as the game went on. A total of five penalties were called in the period with three of them being against Detroit, and two against the Lightning. Just as the penalty on Hedman expired, Detroit made the first strike. Filip Zadina fired a wrist shot that beat Andrei Vasilevskiy high and went off former Bolt Vladislav Namestnikov for the goal. The Lightning answered back minutes later with an equalizer. Patrick Maroon sniped a shot from the point that went past Thomas Greiss to tie the game at 1-1.
Gaining control of the game
Despite starting the second period with the man-advantage, the Lightning still could not find an answer. For better or for worse, there were no penalties called for the entire period. Unlike the first period, both teams remained disciplined and searched for a solid goal opportunity. Despite a handful of solid opportunities to score, the Lightning could not solve Detroit’s defense. Likewise, the Bolts’ defense did not let up either and did a solid job containing the Wings’ offensive attack. It seemed the period would end up being scoreless until Tampa broke through. Jan Rutta fed a pass to Goodrow, which he fired past Greiss to extend the lead to 2-1 late in the second period.
Making history
The first half of the third period went by in the blink of an eye. Tampa controlled the tempo of the game while not giving Detroit many opportunities to get back in the game. Just like the second period, there were no penalties called and there would not be a goal until the Wings pulled Greiss, who was the reason why Detroit was still in the game. With less than a minute to go, the Lightning completed a nice sequence to set up Goodrow for the empty netter. Goodrow made history with the goal being the 6,000th goal in franchise history. The Lightning went on to win 3-1 and improved to an impressive 6-0 at home this season.
Sealed the deal ☑️ pic.twitter.com/Fk971Nfocj
— Tampa Bay Lightning (@TBLightning) February 6, 2021
Three Stars of the Game
1st Star: Andrei Vasilevskiy – Saved 23 of 24 shots faced
2nd Star: Mikhail Sergachev – Three shots and two hits
3rd Star: Barclay Goodrow – Two goals on three shots on goal
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