For the second straight game, an opposing goalie kept his team close against the Lightning. But as they did against Washington on Saturday, the Lightning still managed to grind out a win.
Versus the Caps, the Lightning thoroughly dominated the first period, and then the final 40 minutes were more evenly played. In this contest against Philadelphia, the Lightning dictated action for nearly three full periods. They outshot the Flyers, 36-14, and attempts finished 69 to 36 in favor of Tampa Bay.
The Lightning enjoyed another strong opening frame but didn’t cash in until the 16:05 mark. Following an icing against the Flyers, Brayden Point won an offensive-zone faceoff from Trevor Zegras and headed to the net. Nikita Kucherov slid the puck to John Carlson at the right point. Point gained inside position on Zegras and tipped Carlson’s shot past Dan Vladar.
It was another lopsided first period for the Lightning, as they held the Flyers to just three shots on net and only 10 total shot attempts. But Vladar made several key saves to prevent the Lightning from scoring more than one goal.
The Lightning did extend the lead on the opening shift of the second, however, with the line of Zemgus Girgensons, Pontus Holmberg, and Ilya Mikheyev. That unit had matched effectively against the Pierre-Luc Dubois line on Saturday. The three players delivered another excellent performance, this time against Philadelphia’s line of Noah Cates, Porter Martone, and Tyson Foerster.
To open the second, Girgensons outletted the puck to Mikheyev in the neutral zone, who skated into the Philadelphia end on an odd-man rush with Holmberg and Ryan McDonagh (who had joined the play). Mikheyev fed Holmberg at the right circle, and Holmberg zipped a shot over Vladar’s glove at :17.
During the first 27 minutes of the game, the Flyers didn’t have much going offensively. But a Foerster shot from the high slot that was going wide of the net deflected off traffic in front and caromed in at 7:22, cutting the Lightning lead to 2-1.
Soon after, the Flyers received a power-play chance with an opportunity to tie the game, but the Lightning killed it off. Tampa Bay also successfully killed a penalty in the closing 1:33 of the period to preserve the lead.
That stretch in the second period was the Flyers’ best of the night. But even so, the Lightning never allowed the visitors to gain significant momentum from the goal.
Then in the third, the Lightning again took over the game. Most of the action in the period occurred in the Philadelphia defensive zone. But the Lightning didn’t manage to extend the lead until late in the contest. Before then, they survived a couple of isolated looks from the Flyers—Zegras hit the crossbar and post on an in-alone chance, and Vasilevskiy stopped Christan Dvorak’s shot from the top of the crease. The Lightning navigated through a final penalty kill.
Just over a minute after the penalty ended, the Lightning netted their third goal. Holmberg stole a David Jiricek pass in the neutral zone and entered the Philadelphia end. He made a move past Jiricek, creating a two-on-one with Mikheyev. Holmberg’s passed to Mikheyev, who shot wide from close range. But Mikheyev tracked the puck behind the net and finished a backhand wraparound at 17:00. Brandon Hagel finished the scoring with an empty-netter in the closing seconds.
It was another strong showing for the Lightning, and they were rewarded with two more points in the standings.
Lightning Radio Three Stars of the Game (as selected by Phil Esposito):
- Pontus Holmberg — Lightning. Goal and assist.
- Ilya Mikheyev — Lightning. Goal and assist.
- Zemgus Girgensons — Lightning. Assist.
