A common denominator during the Lightning’s point streak—now at 14 games—has been their ability to defend well and limit opposition chances. That was a big part of their formula for success in this contest against the up-and-coming San Jose Sharks.
Certainly, this was a much different sort of game than the one that took place between the teams on January 3. In that blowout win, the Lightning broke things open early with three first-period goals and netted seven before the second period ended.
This was a tighter, lower-scoring matchup. The Lightning limited San Jose to just 23 shots on goal and only 44 total shot attempts. Although Macklin Celebrini and his linemates produced eight of those shots on net, many were not high-danger looks. In fact, the best chance of the night for San Jose came from Ryan Reaves on a third-period breakaway. Andrei Vasilevskiy made the save on Reaves.
The lone San Jose goal resulted from a fortunate bounce. Following an Alex Wennberg offensive-zone faceoff win, William Eklund skated behind the Lightning net and swept the puck in front. It hit the body of Tyler Toffoli and caromed into the Lightning net at 14:37 of the first. The Sharks had a 1-0 lead.
But the Lightning answered on the next shift. Moments after Sam Dickinson turned the puck over in his own end to Nikita Kucherov, Anthony Cirelli set up Brandon Hagel at the back post for a redirection goal at 15:10.
As the Lightning did on Sunday in Dallas, they surrendered the first goal but netted the equalizer soon after. In both games, they never trailed again.
Kucherov, Hagel, and Cirelli teamed up on the second goal as well. After Kucherov passed to Hagel at the side of the net, Hagel attempted a wraparound. It didn’t make it across the goal line, but Cirelli followed up and jammed it in at 1:49 of the second period.
Just under 90 seconds later, the Lightning added another goal to their lead. Yaroslav Askarov’s pass along the boards handcuffed Vincent Desharnais. Gage Goncalves stole the puck and gave it to Dominic James in the left corner. James wired a quick pass to an unguarded Jake Guentzel in front of the net, and Guentzel one-timed it in at 3:17.
Up by two goals, the Lightning effectively managed the rest of the game. They held the Sharks to just five second-period shots on goal and only 10 attempts. San Jose attempted to make a push in the third period and owned more possession than in the middle frame, but scoring chances were hard to come by. The Reaves breakaway was their best look.
After the Sharks pulled Askarov for an extra attacker, Hagel finished the scoring with an empty-netter. Kucherov helped set up the goal by using his skate to direct the puck from the neutral zone ahead to Hagel, who had only Guentzel with him in the offensive zone. They exchanged passes before Hagel finished the shot into the vacated net.
This was just the second home game in this portion of the schedule in which the Lightning play 10 of 12 on the road. They’ll finish the road-heavy stretch this weekend with a back-to-back set in Chicago and Columbus.
Lightning Radio Three Stars of the Game (as selected by Dave Andreychuk):
- Brandon Hagel — Lightning. Two goals and assist.
- Dominic James — Lightning. Assist.
- J.J. Moser — Lightning.
