About 40 years ago a rival manager of baseball’s Chicago White Sox coined a phrase that is used today. Doug Rader said the Sox were “winning ugly”. That describes perfectly the victory by the Tampa Bay Lightning over the Pittsburgh Penguins yesterday evening. The phrase simply means a team finding a way to win despite challenges. That sums up the game between these two Eastern Conference foes. The Penguins played well enough to earn the victory but somehow, someway the Lightning found their way to victory. Winning Ugly.
Flat Start
The Lightning played Saturday night in New Jersey losing in overtime to the Devils. They get on a plane and arrive in Steeltown in the middle of the night. By the time they check into their hotel, coach Jon Cooper says it was “2 or 3 in the morning”. He didn’t say it as an excuse for the lackluster play in the first period but as a matter of fact. Get in at 3:00 am, then need to be in the rink a few hours before the 5:00 pm puck drop.
Ultimately, in the opening period, they were outshot 14 to 2. Seemed as if most of the Bolts were still sleeping in their hotel beds. They must have felt fortunate to only be down 1 – 0 after the first twenty minutes of play. Rickard Rakell was left all alone less than a foot in front of goalie Jonas Johansson. Rakell easily gave the Penguins the early lead. It was sloppy play by the Tampa defense. Darren Raddysh was caught in no man’s land and Rakell slipped away for the point blank shot.Raddysh wasn’t the only Lightning player that seemed to be sleep-skating in the forest period.
Winning Ugly has to Start Somewhere
Whatever the Lightning did in the first intermission needs to be bottled. As uninspired as their play was in the first period, they came out in the second a different team. Back to back games? So what. Getting to the hotel at 3:00 am? Who cares? Going through the motions in the opening period? Enough is enough.
While they didn’t set the NHL on fire in the second, their play gave them a fighter’s chance to eke out a win despite their first period play. As the period was coming to the 7:00 minute mark, Brandon Hagel got the visitors on the board. It was a beautiful give and go with Anthony Cirelli. Hagel from the Lightning zone passed the puck to Cirelli in the neutral zone then back to Hagel in the Penguins zone. Hagel blasted a shot past Tristan Jarry to tie the game at one.
Brandon Hagel masterclass 🫡 pic.twitter.com/IgmIdAdHEa
— Tampa Bay Lightning (@TBLightning) January 12, 2025
This goal gave some life to the Lightning. While they weren’t exactly a juggernaut the rest of the period, they were standing toe to toe with the Penguins. That is until Nikita Kucherov broke the tie. Kucherov took a pass from captain Victor Hedman and beat Jarry from the high slot.
A wonderful one-timer from Nikita Kucherov!☝️ pic.twitter.com/0MWpoIhDSu
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) January 12, 2025
Holding On to Ugly Win
Entering the third period with the slimmest lead possible, the Lightning had to play strong. That lasted all of two minutes. Kevin Hayes of the Penguins, like Rakell before him, found himself right in front of the Tampa net. Hedman was stick checking but otherwise not impeding Hayes at all and Hayes tied the game at two. Okay, now Tampa looked like they were going to pull defeat from the jaws of victory,
The game remained tied at two until the Lightning’s superstar did his superstar thing, Kucherov trailing the play, lifted the stick of Noel Acciari and stole the puck. This allowed Kucherov to skate in all alone on Jarry. He wristed the puck past the Pittsburgh netminder and that gave Tampa the 3-2 lead.
Nikita Kucherov just said YOINK at the blue line 🎁 pic.twitter.com/pi1axnWUJx
— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) January 13, 2025
The Lightning added two empty net goals. One by Cirelli and the other by Nick Paul but the die was cast. No doubt the Lightning did enough to earn this victory. Yes, it was an ugly win because on paper, the Penguins did more than enough to win this game. They just ran into a team that was determined to win. Even if they had to win ugly. Another sports adage the Bolts take with them is: a win is a win is a win.
Three Stars
- Nikita Kucherov – 2 goals, 1 assist and carrying the team to victory
- Brandon Hagel – 1 goal, 1 assist
- Jonas Johansson – Saved 31 of 33 shots he faced and kept his team in the game when they didn’t play well in front of him
What’s Next
A rematch of last Thursday’s game as the Lightning head to Beantown to face the Bruins Tuesday night. Puck drops at 7:00 pm
