Despite a power outage the showdown in Philadelphia carried on with the Lightning losing a pivotal game in regulation. Nobody could have guessed that a transformer would be the cause of the outage which made for an exciting evening in the city of brotherly love. Somehow the league was able to keep the game going and eventually power fully returned to Wells Fargo Arena. Everything was fine up until the third period began and that is when the meltdown began for the Lightning. Constant rushes by the Flyers offense doomed the Lightning early in the third period and they were unable to recover the damage delt.
So long electricity
Early on the Lightning had a bit of trouble moving the puck allowing the Flyers to easily gain possession. Soon after, the Flyers opened up the scoring with a goal from Bobby Brink. The goal was one Andrei Vasilevskiy would love to have back as Philadelphia gained the early momentum. After the goal, Tampa’s offense applied pressure on net while looking to answer the goal from Brink. A power outage at Wells Fargo Center occurred with 13:47 left in the first period halting the game as a result.
Show must go on
Play eventually resumed with the score remaining 1-0 Flyers with just over 5 minutes to go in the period. Only low lights and fans were working yet none of the clocks or audio were working. The goalies were asked if they could see the puck still, they said yes, and that allowed play to resume. For how long the show went on was still a mystery. Lightning received the first power play of the game after a delay of game call on the Flyers. Tampa left the power play empty handed but did have some good looks on net. Flyers nearly scored late, but Nick Perbix made a great play to block the shot keeping the score 1-0 after a bizarre period ends.
Slowly getting back to normal
The game continued into the second period as everyone wondered if the power would come back or if conditions became worse. Flyers were doing a great job blocking shots no matter what but Lightning continued to apply pressure regardless. That being said, both teams had a sloppy start yet no damage was done to this point. Then, Flyers are called for too many men giving the Bolts their second power play of the game. At this time, power was slowly starting to return to the arena which was a sigh of relief for everyone.
Hagel extends his point streak
The power play did not last long after Anthony Cirelli was called for tripping. However, Lightning tied the game up after Nick Paul was wide open for the goal. Paul wasted no time drilling that puck past Samuel Ersson for his third goal in four games to tie the game 1-1. With the assist on the goal Brandon Hagel extended his points streak to 14 games. (9 goals, 12 assists) With 7:43 left in the period power fully returned to the arena ending a strange period and a half of hockey. Next, Hagel was called for slashing which gave the Flyers their second power play late in the period. Penalty kill got the job done and the score remained 1-1 heading into the third period.
He did THAT 😳 pic.twitter.com/CUB9JcUXZI
— Tampa Bay Lightning (@TBLightning) February 28, 2024
Nightmare beginning
Philadelphia wasted no time to take the lead with Tyson Foerster scoring 54 seconds in to give the Flyers the 2-1 lead. Flyers nearly scored again shortly after but Vasy was able to clear the puck away. Unfortunately, Flyers added to their lead anyway with Travis Sanheim left alone for the easy goal making it a 3-1 game. The goals were scored about 2 minutes apart in what was an abysmal start to the period for the Bolts. Lightning could not clear the zone and Scott Walker made them pay to extend the Flyers lead 4-1. All three of the goals scored by the Flyers were off rushes as their dominating play carried on.
Tough pill to swallow
At this point Tampa had to find a way to swing momentum on their side to get the comeback going. With 9:08 left to go Vasy was pulled which was Coach Cooper’s way of sending a message to the rest of the team. Minutes went by and neither team was able to find the back of the net but that surely would change rather quickly. Steven Stamkos scored his 24th of the season to cut the lead 4-2 and Vasy returned to the net. He was then pulled again to get an extra attacker on the ice in hopes of making it a one goal game. Cates scored an empty net goal to make it 5-2 ending any hopes of a Lightning comeback. York joined the party with a empty net goal to extend the lead 6-2. Not that it mattered at this point, but the Flyers finished the game on the man advantage.
Kuch ➡️ Pointer ➡️ Stammer ➡️ Goal pic.twitter.com/qSsYOHBW8k
— Tampa Bay Lightning (@TBLightning) February 28, 2024
Coming back home
Lightning end the road trip with a 6-2 loss and are even with the Flyers at 69 points on the season. The team will return home for the next five games that begins on Thursday when the Sabres come to the Bay. With the trade deadline looming these 5 games at home will be pivotal for the push for the playoffs.
Three stars of the game
1st Star: Noah Cates – 1 goal and 1 assist
2nd Star: Morgan Frost – 2 assists
3rd Star: Samuel Ersson- Saved 20 of 22 shots faced
