Bolts 5 - Stars 4, St. Pete Times Forum, Tampa.
The Power Play takes center stage as the Lightning score four with the man advantage to defeat the previously unbeaten Dallas Stars, 5-4.
4W-1L Dallas @ 4W-1L Lightning.
Dallas Goals: Peterson (1), Burish (1), Morrow (5), & Neal (3)
Lightning Goals: Downie (2), Stamkos (5), Bergenheim (1), & Moore (3 & 4)
Dallas SOG: 19
Lightning SOG: 44
Three Stars: 1)Hedman 2)Moore 3)Thompson
The 3rd Line got the game started Monday night as the Lightning looked to put aside an eye-opening, 6-0 loss to the Florida Panthers from Saturday against the previously undefeated Dallas Stars. Saturday's game saw the Lightning frustrated offensively, coming up empty despite 29 shots on net. Possible doubt around the consistancy of the Lightning attack was hightened with the news that captain Vincent Lecavalier would be out of the lineup due to injury. Lecavalier was scratched for a bruised hand that was struck by a shot in that loss to the Panthers.
The Lightning were on front foot early in the first, until two Stamkos penalties, a slash and a roughing call, curtailed their early pressure. The penalty kill had an easy go of things, however, as the Stars, who came into the evening ranked 28th in the league on the power play, could not seem to get the final pass onto anyone's stick for a clean shot. Lightning RW Sean Bergenheim and C Dominic Moore were adventurous and inspirational on the forecheck, as the forwards provided an early spark defensively. After killing off the two early penalties, the Bolts settled in and earned a couple of power plays of their own.
All three first period goals were on the Lightning power play, but the first came from an unexpected source and the unexpected team, given the situation. Dallas C Toby Peterson, who only scored nine times last season, gave the Stars a 1-Nothing advantage with the shorthanded goal fifteen minutes in.
Not long after, on the same penalty in fact, the Bolts answered through RW Steve Downie, who deflected in a RW Martin St. Louis shot. Stamkos added another PPG with 16 seconds left to close out the period, and to give the Lightning a 2-1 advantage going into the break.
On the other side of those early power play chances was a frustrated Stars C Brad Richards, who was only playing in his second game against the Lightning in Tampa since the 2004 Conn Smythe winner was traded in 2008 from the club that drafted him. Richards is very much the quarterback of the Stars offense, and is happy to play provider, with 8 assists through 5 games so far this season including one on the Stars 4th goal of the night. When I spoke to him after the game though, it was obvious he was not pleased with the team's offensive performance...
"They (the Lightning) were working real hard early, and we didn't want to do that. We wanted to play our own 'fancy' game, and we can't rely on him (G Keri Lehtonen) stopping 50 shots while we play 'fancy'"
I asked Richards about the set up passes, and why, with all of Dallas' possession, things didn't click...
"You just said it. Those last passes, there was no need to pass. We knew, and we talked about it...If you are going to get 'fancy' it will not work. We didn't get shots on goal. We didn't test their goalie. If we get 30 shots, maybe we win. You can't have four power plays, and only have three or four shots (on each)"
Tailing off of Richie's word for the night, the Lightning gave us a bit of 'fancy' in the second period. The Lightning's only even strength goal came from the hard work of RW Teddy Purcell, who cut off Dallas RW Adam Burish at the blue line, attempting to make a clearance. Purcell fought 4 or 5 seconds to push Burish over to the left point, where he stole the puck and whipped a backhand pass to Steven Stamkos sitting at the bottom of the left circle. Stammers immediately slipped the puck across to a charging Sean Bergenheim, who smartly followed up on Stamkos' vacated position in front of the net, and scored.
C Dominic Moore scored the last two of the Lightning's 5 goals, both of which came on the power play. The Bolts are now 6 of 10 on the power play at home this season (60%) and 8 of 24 altogether (33%).
Side Notes: Last nights game was 'Hockey Fights Cancer' Night, where several members of media and staff wore pink and purple ribbons, pins, and ties in honor of the occasion.
