Road trip began perfectly for the Lightning after a nearly flawless showing against the Montreal Canadiens. The victory extends the win streak to 5 games while point streaks carried on for two Bolts. A penalty ridden second period tested the penalty kill for both teams which would favor Tampa when all is said and done. Andrei Vasilevskiy nearly recorded a shutout while the Bolts shutdown Montreal after a slow start.
Shaky beginning
Starting the road trip off, the puck spent most of the time in Tampa’s defensive zone. Vasilevskiy had to make some key saves to prevent the Canadiens from striking first. However, Tampa would shortly get the puck out of their zone and later on score the opening goal. Brandon Hagel took advantage of a defensive breakdown by Montreal’s defense. Off on the breakaway he went and fired the puck past Jake Allen for the 1-0 lead. As a result, Hagel extended his points streak to five games with the goal. Then, Pat Maroon did not like the hit on Anthony Cirelli and dropped the gloves with Arber Xhekaj.
Paul extends the lead
4-on-4 hockey followed suit as a result of the tilt. Following, first power play of the night went to Montreal after Cal Foote was called for tripping. While it was not a pretty penalty kill Tampa managed to kill it off and keep the 1-0 lead. Tampa then extended their lead with a goal from Nick Paul. It was Paul’s 13th of the season in which he cashed in on a rebound opportunity. Later on, Bolts went on their first power play of the night. Victor Hedman took a stick up high from Rem Pitlick and the penalty went on for nearly the rest of the period. Montreal killed off the penalty and the period ended with the Lightning up 2-0.
Penalties pile up
To start off, Tampa went on the power play early due to a too many men call on Montreal. However, Canadiens kill off the penalty keeping the score 2-0. Nearly five minutes went by without either team getting a shot on net. Canadiens then went on the power play after Foote is booked for slashing. One would think Tampa was on the man advantage due to the numerous short-handed opportunities they had. Penalties continue to pile up as Mike Matheson is sent to the box for interference. That would be the third penalty called in the second period. Following, Tampa would have an extended power play after Brayden Point took a stick to the face.
Scoring on the man advantage
Double minor was called giving the Lightning a prime chance to extend the lead. Afterwards, Cirelli scored his first of the season to extend the lead 3-0. Power play would continue but Tampa could not net another goal. Minutes later Montreal again went back on the power play. This would be Montreal’s third power play of the period. As one can see, the second period was an undisciplined game from both teams. Again, even more penalties are called this time one for each side which did not affect the play on ice. What was thought to be a penalty called on Tampa turned out to be called on Montreal instead, Hagel scored his second goal of the season on Tampa’s 6th power play of the game to extend the lead 4-0. Overall, a solid period was played in particular for the penalty kill of the Lightning.
71 picks up his first of the season on the power play!! š pic.twitter.com/6b7EbVN8pU
— Tampa Bay Lightning (@TBLightning) December 18, 2022
Road trip begins with a positive result
Right away the Canadiens went to work in the third period. Nick Suzuki cashes in on a sloppy play by the Lightning defense to get Montreal on the board. Lightning lead was then cut 4-1. Tempo of the game slowed down compared to the previous periods. Lightning played a tighter game in order to secure the large lead and shutdown Montreal’s offense. While Montreal tried to pull Jake Allen, Lightning maintained puck control to prevent that chance. Instead, Nikita Kucherov went top shelf to beat Allen and give the Bolts a 5-1 lead. The goal extended Kucherov’s point streak to 7 games. To summarize, Lightning started off the road trip with a commanding victory over Montreal.
Three stars of the game
1st Star: Brandon Hagel – 2 goals and 1 assist
2nd Star: Steven Stamkos – 2 assists
3rd Star: Kaiden Guhle – 1 assist
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