7
0
Espo’s Rule does it again.
NSH-3
TB-4
Andrei Vasilevskiy allowed 3 goals on 26 shots for the victory. He probably wants that second one back that triggered the Nashville comeback attempt.
First Period
17:55 NSH Ellis (1), (Cousins, Forsberg)(PP)
Second Period
3:33 TB Johnson (1), (Cirelli)(PP)
6:41 TB Foote (1), (Sergachev, Point)
8:05 TB Hedman (2), (Cirelli, Killorn)
17:27 TB Stamkos (3), (Hedman, Point)(PP)
Third Period
5:57 NSH Olivier (1), (Johansen, Josi)(PP)
18:26 NSH Arvidson (2), (Granlund, Forsberg)
You got some pretty drastic score effects toward the end of this one with Nashville getting all the way to the false hope goal after falling behind by three after forty minutes, but this was generally a game the Lightning dominated. They fell behind 1-0 in the First Period only because of Nashville getting three straight power plays on very soft calls, including a 5-on-3 the Lightning killed to kick in Espo’s Rule. The Lightning were the better team at even strength, though, and their power play was very dangerous tonight despite only potting the one power play goal late in the Second Period. We haven’t seen Dallas yet this season, but thus far in the Central Division it appears to me there’s going to be quite a falloff between Tampa Bay and Carolina in the upper tier and everyone else.
Cal Foote had his first NHL goal and was +1 with 1 shot and 1 blocked shot in 8:44. Scored on a really nice one timer and then in the Third Period bloodied up Olivier with some crafty uppercuts in a post whistle scrum. At this point, he’s settled down and we have a clear indication of what he can and can’t do and I think he’d doing a good job of keeping things simple and staying with those strengths.
Alexander Volkov had 1 hit in 7:05.
Box score and extended statistics from NHL.com.
