It was another night of milestones for the Lightning. Charle-Edouard D’Astous netted his first NHL goal (which turned out to be the game-winner), and Anthony Cirelli collected his 300th career point. Just as significantly, the Lightning delivered another strong performance and improved their record to 4-4-2.
Zemgus Girgensons returned from his preseason injury last Saturday and joined a line of Yanni Gourde and Pontus Holmberg. That trio has been outstanding for all three games that they’ve played together. They forecheck relentlessly, win puck battles, and spend most of the game in the offensive zone. One of those long o-zone shifts yielded the opening goal in this contest. After cycling the puck in the Nashville end, Holmberg centered a pass from behind the net to Girgensons in the low slot. Girgensons snapped it in at 9:31.
The Lightning had the better of the play in the first period, but it wasn’t a lopsided frame. Nashville posted four shots on goal during an early power play, and the Preds had some near misses off the rush during five-on-five action.
The second period was lopsided, though. The Lightning owned nearly all of the possession time. Juuse Saros did well to keep his team’s deficit at 1-0 for most of the frame. That’s when Brandon Hagel stuffed in a puck at 15:37, eight seconds after a Lightning power play ended. Three shot attempts within a four-second span led to the goal. First, Saros saved a Dominic James shot from the right circle. Cirelli’s rebound shot ended up deflecting into the crease, where Hagel put it in. Initially, it appeared that James would earn his first NHL point, but the goal only had one assist. That assist for Cirelli gave him 300 points in his NHL career.
The Preds tried to push back in the third. An early third-period penalty on Tampa Bay while the teams were skating four-on-four gave Nashville a dangerous four-on-three power play. As the four-on-three became a five-on-four, the Preds held in a puck at the offensive blue line and outnumbered the Lightning down low. Luke Evangelista scored on a rebound at 5:05, cutting the Lightning lead in half.
But less than three minutes later, the Lightning reestablished a two-goal lead on D’Astous’ milestone tally. Nikita Kucherov worked the puck out of the defensive zone to Brayden Point, creating what appeared to be a two-on-two rush with Jake Guentzel. But D’Astous jumped in the play, making it an odd-man rush. Point fed D’Astous in the high slot, and D’Astous wired a shot past Saros’s stick at 7:58.
The Lightning held the 3-1 lead until the closing minutes. During another four-on-four, the Preds pulled Saros for a five-on-four advantage. When the minor penalties expired on J.J. Moser and Filip Forsberg, they both joined the play. A rebound came to Forsberg at the bottom of the right circle, and he snapped it in at 17:54.
But the Lightning never allowed the tying goal. In the closing minute, Cirelli, Hagel, and Kucherov teamed up on Kucherov’s empty-netter. Hagel made a smart, cross-ice neutral-zone pass to an open Kucherov, who had clear sailing to the vacated net.
With Saros back in the net, Girgensons put in a loose puck at the side of the goal after Holmberg drove to the net. With two goals in this game, Girgensons matched his season total from last year.
It was an excellent overall performance for the Lightning, who did not allow a five-on-five goal. They earned their third consecutive win and finished their opening 10-game segment with 10 points. They wrap up the month of October with a home game on Thursday against Dallas.
Lightning Radio Three Stars of the Game:
- Zemgus Girgensons — Lightning. Two goals.
- Charle-Edouard D’Astous — Lightning. GWG. First NHL goal and point.
- Brandon Hagel — Lightning. Goal and assist.
