4
0
Improvement, but still no cigar.
PIT-5
TB-4 (OT)
Andrei Vasilevskiy allowed five goals on 32 shots for the loss. Two soft goals allowed ended up being more than the margin. He made some amazing saves in the game, too, but soft goals often end up being the margin.
First Period
5:39 TB Colton (14), (Jeannot, Sergachev)
Second Period
6:06 PIT Petry (4), (Crosby)
6:31 PIT Petry (5), (Carter, Heinen)
9:39 TB Point (38), (Killorn, Sergachev)(PP)
15:06 PIT Zucker (18), (Pettersson, Carter)
Third Period
0:38 TB Stamkos (27), (Kucherov, Vasilevskiy)
6:59 PIT O’Conner (5), (Archibald, Letang)
15:50 TB Hedman (6), (Stamkos, Point)
Overtime
2:13 PIT Zucker (19), (Pettersson, Rakkell)
Brayden Point was the game’s third star.
The team played better tonight. They’ll add Eyssimont in the next game and I think that’ll help the forecheck and turn the possession battle a little more toward Tampa Bay’s favor. It’s a marked improvement over the previous three outings or so, and there needs to be incremental improvement over the course of March if this team’s going to be anywhere near ready for the postseason.
Darren Raddysh was -2 with 2 shots and 3 hits in 11:38. He got caught coasting a little on the O’Conner goal and he got burned. He was actually first to the puck but he’s got to keep his feet moving at this level. He’ll be fine. I’m not overly worried.
Box score and extended statistics from NHL.com.
