By Michael Wax
For the first time all year, we will combine two games into a single game recap thanks to the fact that the lightning had a back-to-back road on the West Coast, less than 24 hours apart. The Lightning was able to get three out of a possible four points during this back-to-back, falling in overtime to Los Angeles 4-3 despite a furious third-period comeback and defeating the Ducks 3-2 in overtime the next day. Before we talk about what we saw, some admin:
On Friday, D Emil Lilleberg and F Mitchell Chaffee subbed into the lineup in exchange for defenseman Calvin Dean and forward Conor Sheary
Saturday saw another wave of lineup changes, with Brayden Point and defenseman Victor Hedman being ruled out during warm-ups due to lower body injuries they sustained against Los Angeles. Both are day-to-day.
In their place, de Haan and Sheary both returned to the lineup, with Austin Watson Replacing Chaffee as the 12th forward.
Andre Vasilevskiy completed his 10th consecutive start on Saturday, finally paving the way for Jonas Johansson to see game action on Sunday against the Ducks.
Here are three things we noticed from the weekend back to back:
Luke...
With both Hedman and Point out during Sunday's game, the Lightning were going to need an unsung hero. Step up, Luke Glendening.
Glendening has been a surprise to the Lightning in his first season, providing strength in goals, scoring, penalty, killing, and face-offs. An understated part of his game comes in the fact that he is providing tremendous leadership, something that Coach Jon Cooper displayed by giving him the second assistant captain "A" for the game against Anaheim. In turn, Glendening responded with the best game of his season.
Off the hop, it was apparent that the fourth line was going to get a decent amount of responsibilities with a shuffled lineup. In the second period, tied at one, Glendening chased the Duck's defense back into their own zone and caused a turnover. The puck squirted free to an open Tanner Jeannot by the left circle, and his shot that Austin Watson deflected was originally saved by Lukas Dostal. Glendening was right there for the rebound, and he backhanded it into an open net to give the Lightning a 2-1 lead.
With his 10th goal of the season, Glendening has tied the most goals in a season he's had since 2018-19 with Detroit. He's still two goals away from his career high of 12, which he set during the 2014-15 season.
...And Duke
It feels like we're getting to the point where we mention how good Anthony Duclair has been for the Lightning in every single one of these posts. But until he stopped putting up points, we're gonna have to keep talking about him. Duclair had a combined two points this weekend against Los Angeles and Anaheim, facilitating a comeback in both games in different ways.
Duclair now has points in seven consecutive games, a record for consecutive games in Lightning history among midseason acquisitions. On the first goal that Steven Stamkos scored against LA to facilitate the comeback, Duclair was right there in order to cause havoc and create an open scenario for the captain to make it a 3-2 deficit.
Against Anaheim, he had a new teammate that he was able to bounce off of and create some magic with: Nick Perbix. The two found each other after a turnover going across the Anaheim blue line, and when Perbix fired a shot from the left circle that caused the juicy rebound, Duclair was right there in the right circle to get just enough on the puck to get it past Dostal and tie the game for the Lightning:
Matty D
Looking over at the other trade acquisition the Lightning made during the deadline, the reviews so far on Matt Dumba have definitely been mixed. He's not noticeable when he's on his game, which is perfect for a bottom-pairing defenseman. However, a noticeable and slightly concerning trend has followed Dumbo from Arizona to Tampa, and that is his habit of taking penalties.
Since being acquired by the Lightning on March 8, Matt Dumba has played in seven games and wrecked up five minor penalties and one fight. This means he's put the Lightning at a disadvantage five different times in just seven games, two of which came in the last two games he's played in. Those five minor penalties are also the most among all lightning skaters since March 8, ahead of Conor Sheary by two penalties.
Against Los Angeles, Dumba took a two-minute hooking penalty against Viktor Arvidsson. Against Anaheim, it was a two-minute tripping call against Troy Terry. While the PK was able to kill off both of these penalties, it's unfair to put your team at a disadvantage continuously. There's a misconception that there are fewer penalties during the playoffs, and the reality is that there's more that people can get away with with the same amount of penalties. Whether that works in Matt Dumba's favor remains to be seen. Ultimately, this is a habit that he's going to need to kick over the last 10 games of the season.
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