Tampa Bay Lightning’s Offense Comes to Life

It’s about time. The Tampa Bay Lightning, the highest scoring team during the regular season, finally broke out of a scoring slump and continued its dominance of the Montreal Canadiens with a commanding 6-2 win Sunday night.

The game, for Tampa Bay fans, was a bit scary at first. The Canadiens, who were most likely peeved about how Game 1 ended, controlled the opening period. They were running circles around the Lightning and took the lead on Jeff Petry’s goal. But things started to fall apart when Montreal players found themselves in the penalty box.

That’s right. The Bolts power play broke through. Hallelujah! Not once, not even twice, the Lightning’s power play converted four times. Unbelievable! Really, it was only a matter of time. The Lightning are stacked with great offensive players and they all came together last night.

Via Fox Sports:

“The power play has struggled as of late,” Stamkos said on the Sun Sports postgame show. “For it to get going the way it did tonight, that was the difference in the game. … Special teams was big, and we won that battle tonight.”

I think how Game 1 ended also motivated them. The Lightning didn’t want people questioning how they won. And there were no ifs, ands or buts about this one. The Lightning were a picture of pure dominance. The team moved the puck well and made Carey Price look like anything but a Vezina Trophy finalist.

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Tampa Bay entered the game in an 0-for-23 power-play drought and things weren’t looking too good after they failed to convert on a four-minute advantage. But then the tides turned and the Lightning scored on four consecutive power-play shots. Like they say, “when it rains, it pours.”

It wasn’t just the power play’s success that had Tampa fans rejoicing, it was also the fact that Steven Stamkos scored. Yes, they can now breathe a sigh of relief. No more goal drought for the captain. Stamkos had not scored in the previous nine games, including eight in the playoffs. But he’s Steven Stamkos. You can’t expect him to be goalless forever.

Stamkos broke the drought with style. His goal was a beauty:

Via NHL.com:

“He’s one of the best players in the world, you can only hold him down for so long,” said Bishop, who made 27 saves for his seventh win against Montreal this season in as many games. “You know he’s going to break out. He’s been working really hard, and to see him get that goal, and it was a really nice move, too, he’s wanted it for a while. The team has been winning and he’s been doing other things besides scoring which have been helping this team win. To see him on the scoresheet, I know is a relief but he’s been doing a lot of other things besides scoring.”

With that first goal behind him, Stamkos should feel less pressure going into Game 3. A more relaxed Stamkos may be that much more dangerous. Game 2 gave him some confidence and I believe he’s going to run with it.

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It is also important to mention that Tyler Johnson didn’t score and that’s a good thing. That might sound like an odd sentence, but it means that other players broke out. A team cannot just rely on one player to put up all the offense and the Tampa Bay Lightning’s other players showed them offensive prowess in Game 2. Johnson still played his part, tallying two assists, but it is a good sign that they didn’t need him to score in order to win.

If Game 2 is an indication of things to come for the Tampa Bay Lightning then other teams better watch out.

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