By Michael Wax
The Lightning got a goal from Nick Paul with 1:13 left and held on to beat the Vegas Golden Knights 5-4. Here's how they stacked up:
Paul-Point-Kucherov
Hagel-Cirelli-Stamkos
Jeannot-Glendening-Eyssimont
Sheary-Motte-ABB
Hedman-Cernak
Sergachev-Perbix
Fleury-Raddysh
Vasilevskiy
Here are our three biggest takeaways:
Pauly
Don't look now, but Nick Paul is putting up huge numbers since being promoted to the first line with Brayden Point and Nikita Kucherov.
This wasn't a trio that many thought would work, as Paul's slower, more deliberate play style doesn't suit the needs of two quicker linemates, but it has worked in spades so far. Paul put together another three-point performance against the Golden Knights.
Both of Paul's assists came as a result of him being near the goalmouth and being the recipient of some very hard work from Brayden Point. His goal also came from Point's hard work, but he was shaded more towards the left boards and got a perfectly placed rebound to fire into a semi-open Vegas net for the go-ahead and ultimately game-winning goal.
Is Paul's success on the top line sustainable? Who knows. But these past two games have been a welcome sight for a team desperately searching for wins.
Second Stanza
It seems like the nightmares about second periods that lightning fans had on the road trip are now a thing of the past, at least when it comes to middle frames at home.
The second period was by far the best of the three for the Lightning, as they outscored Vegas 4-0 and cleaned up many of the defensive mistakes they made against St. Louis. While they were the beneficiaries of a decent amount of power plays, All facets of the game were at a peak level to get them their 4-0 period score.
As we saw on the road trip, 20 bad minutes of play can cost you a game. In this one,20 unbelievable minutes of play got them the big win.
Fight for Your Right
There were a lot of different turning points in that game for both teams. After all, it was one of the best games of the entire NHL year. But the one that stuck out to most was Brandon Hagel, who was not afraid to step up and get physical.
With the score sitting at 2-1 Vegas, Hagel and Golden Knights forward Ivan Barbashev got into a big scrap after some trippy play between the two teams. Despite giving up a couple of inches in height and several dozen pounds, Hagle held his own against one of the NHL's premier power forwards.
Not only did Hagel's fight seem to energize the crowd, but it also got the team into a hyper-competitive mindset for the rest of that second period:
Want to start your journalism career by writing about the Tampa Bay Lightning? Send us a message via our contact form located in the upper right-hand corner under the more tab, or send us a message via Twitter to get started.
Comments