First Period Domination Not Enough to Earn Bolts a Win

Photo Credit: Alyssa Shimko| Thunderstruck Sports

With a still-depleted roster, the Lightning took on the Vancouver Canucks this evening. In good news, Brandon Hagel was back in the lineup! In bad news, Victor Hedman, Ryan McDonagh, Anthony Cirelli, Nick Paul, Pontus Holmberg, and Dominic James were all still out. But the depleted roster got the job done in Sunrise last night against the arch-rival Panthers, so there was reason to be hopeful. That hope was alive and well in a dominant first period, but faded as the game went on. A horrendous third period sealed the deal when the Bolts gave up 3 goals in the span of a minute and 40 seconds.

Domination In The First

The Bolts played an absolutely dominant first period. There is no other way to say it. They controlled the puck for almost the entire period. They won faceoffs. They sustained O-zone pressure and did not allow the Vancouver Canucks any chances. Early on, shots favored the Lightning 7-0. Eventually, Vancouver did muster a shot, but it would be their only one of the period. Jonas Johansson made the save, and play continued. Going into the final minute of the period, the Bolts were enjoying an 11-1 shot advantage. The one thing they'd been unable to do was find the back of the net.

Finally, with 35 seconds remaining in the period, Point... to Raddysh... to Kucherov who blasted his shot past Kevin Lankinen to put the boys in blue up 1-0.

The Domination Dwindles

After a dominant first period, the Bolts came back down to Earth for the second frame. They scored much more quickly in this period than in the previous one. Jake Guentzel tallied his 8th of the season from Cernak and Hagel and 4:35 to double the Lightning lead to 2-0.

But Vancouver fought back and played very well the whole second period. Shortly after the Guentzel goal, the Bolts got themselves into penalty trouble. Scott Sabourin was called for tripping at 5:53. The Lightning killed it off, but the Canucks certainly looked dangerous on the power play. The Bolts ought to be careful not to take any more penalties! Unfortunately, they did not heed that advice. At 9:06, J.J. Moser took a holding penalty. This time, the Canucks took full advantage, as Jake DeBrusk scored just 20 seconds into the power play.

To finish out the period, the Bolts got two power plays of their own and looked dreadful on both.

Canucks Scoring Dominates the Third

The Lightning were the better team in this game, but they had little to show for it. Their one-goal lead felt tenuous, at best. At 3:43 of the final frame, Scott Sabourin took another penalty. Once again, the Canuck power play proved too much for the Bolts as Kiefer Sherwood scored his 12th of the season at 4:11. Just 43 seconds later, Vancouver took the lead as Mackenzie MacEachern tallied his first of the season. And less than a minute after that, Drew O'Connor notched his 5th of the season to put his team up by two at 4-2.

The Lightning did think they had brought this one within a goal as Charle-Edouard D'Astous bat Kevin Lankinen. But Vancouver challenged for a missed stoppage in play and won the challenge. No goal.

MacEachern later beat Johansson again to make it 5-2, and an empty net goal with 3 minutes remaining made it 6-2.

This was a game of missed opportunities for the Lightning. Special teams let them down, and a dominant first period really was not reflected in the score.

Three Stars

1. Mackenzie MacEachern-- 2 goals in the 3rd period, including the game winner.

2. Quinn Hughes-- 3 assists

3. Kevin Lankinen-- kept his team in this one even when they were being dominated.

Up Next

The Metro Division leading New Jersey Devils come to town for the second meeting of the year at Benchmark International for these two teams. Game is scheduled for 7:00pm.