The Backcheck: Bolts get overtime point but drop Thursday game against Kraken

For a second straight game, the Tampa Bay Lightning—literally—fought their way back on Thursday.

With the Lightning trailing the Seattle Kraken 2-1 to open the second period at Benchmark International Arena, Bolts defenseman JJ Moser fought Seattle’s Berkly Catton, the first of several dust-ups between the teams in the middle frame.

By the time the period ended, Tampa Bay had erased a 3-1 deficit, eventually going on to earn a standings point in a 4-3 overtime loss.

"Once the emotion got up a little bit, I think that's when we played our game,” Corey Perry said. “The emotion comes with it, and that's when we're at our best. You could see that we started to take over the game a little bit more, and we had the puck a lot more. It's just part of our game and it's just what we have to be."

Tampa Bay is now 44-21-6 this season and has earned standings points (4-0-2) in six straight games.

“We’re trying to catch teams, and teams are trying to catch us. I mean, it's a dog fight every single night,” Perry said. “It’s not over until it's over, so you’ve got to scratch and claw to get a point or two each and every night and figure out a way to do that. This league’s tough. This conference is tough. It's tight, it's close, and there's a lot of good teams.”

Seattle was the team to break Thursday’s scoreless seal on a Brandon Montour goal late in the first period.

Just after a successful Lightning penalty kill, Seattle earned a 3-on-2 rush chance that ended with an open drive to the net for the Kraken defenseman, who sent a backhand shot into the top corner for a 1-0 lead with 4:42 left in the first period.

Tampa Bay fought back to even the score less than two minutes later on forward Anthony Cirelli’s 20th goal of the season.

A Brandon Hagel pass toward the net flipped over the stick of a Kraken defenseman and rolled to the left post for an open Cirelli, who tapped the puck home for a 1-1 game with 2:59 remaining. Cirelli has now posted three consecutive 20-goal seasons for the Lightning, the ninth player in franchise history to do so.

The visitors restored their lead in the short time left before the first period buzzer, this time with 1:48 remaining on an open shot for Kaapo Kakko at the right hashmark. The visitors then made it 3-1 early in the second period on a rebound goal.

Just like in Tuesday’s win against Minnesota, Tampa Bay pushed back to tie the score despite a multi-goal deficit—Jake Guentzel began the pushback with his breakaway goal six minutes into the second period, and a Perry power-play goal in the high slot evened the score near the 10-minute mark.

“I think we were a little bit soft in the first period and just going through the motions,” defenseman Charle-Edouard D’Astous said. “Once we got into the game, involved emotionally, I think we took over control of that game.”

Montour’s second goal of the night was the winner 2:47 into overtime and came on a five-hole shot near the net after Hagel’s stick broke to give the Kraken an advantage.

“I can be rattled up here that we lost, but I can also look at it and say, ‘Okay, still we went on the road and we haven't lost in regulation in our last six and played some pretty emotional games, had a lot of travel in there,” Cooper said. “We need points to keep our head above water here, and they keep getting them so you want to be greedy and get them both. We had our chances, we had our looks. We just didn't have the pop we usually have, and credit Seattle, they sat there and rope-a-doped us, blocked shots, kept them out, and then when they got their opportunity, they buried it.”

Guentzel contributed his goal and added an assist to co-lead the team on offense alongside D’Astous, who finished with two assists. 

The Lightning outshot the Kraken 33 to 19, and Seattle blocked an additional 29 shot attempts from Tampa Bay. Perry said Tampa Bay talked about finding ways to get more of those pucks through, continuing to improve and starting stronger.

“We’re heading in the right direction. We can still get better and there’s still things to improve on,” Perry said. “We talk about it each and every day on how to improve and how to get better, and it’s just a matter of going out there and doing it…It's a tough league, especially with all the games, back-to-backs and every other night for the rest of the year. You have to be on top of your game and be ready.”

The Lightning can get back into the win column on Saturday when they open a weekend back-to-back with a 1 p.m. game against an Atlantic Division opponent, the Ottawa Senators.

Benjamin’s Three Stars:

1. Brandon Montour, SEA (2 goals)
2. Jake Guentzel, TBL (Goal, assist)
3. Bobby McMann, SEA (Goal, assist)