TAMPA, Fla. – The Tampa Bay Lightning struck late in the third period with a pair of goals in Thursday evening’s 4-3 win over the Vegas Golden Knights. The Lightning’s late storm served as a metaphor for the power and insight the metaphorical lightning bolts symbolize in the sky.
“To get two (goals) in the last two (minutes), we’re playing with house money there, that was nice for us,” commented Lightning head coach Jon Cooper.
Inside of the last minute of the third period, Lightning star Nikita Kucherov broke the puck into the Vegas zone and took a shot around the left circle. Golden Knights goalie Aidan Hill deflected the shot which headed for the left corner of the ice.
Off the rebound, Kucherov followed with the game-winner at 19:06 which ricocheted off of Hill’s left foot and went into the net.
“You are going to take points any way you can get them,” noted Cooper. “It would have been a disappointment if we didn’t get any this game, but we did deserve some points or at least we felt, anyway, and fortunate for us, we got them both.”
Trailing 3-2 at 17:38, Lightning forward Brendan Hagel tied the game when he took a shot off the bottom corner of the right circle and it cleared Hill on his right side.
“First of all, it was two good hockey teams playing the game,” said Cooper. “We started to push after the second period and we pushed in the third, but the big difference in tonight and our first two games was we continued to match the puck. We weren’t giving up those rushes by volume.”
The two teams traded four goals in the first period as Lightning defenseman JJ Moser scored his first goal in a Tampa Bay sweater. He and Kucherov matched the Golden Knights’ Brayden McNabb and Pavel Dorofeyav with goals for a 2-2 deadlock after the first twenty minutes.
Vegas seemed to bring the challenge to Tampa Bay in the first period, but the Lightning stood firm with an elixir in the second and third periods. Vegas recorded 16 blocked shots in the first period, but Tampa Bay focused and accepted their challenge as the game moved forward.
“Patience at that point,” offered Moser. “We were all over them the last half of the game, but I think it’s not getting frustrated and not trying to force anything.”
Moser scored at the 10:21 mark of the first period to tie the game at 1-1. He controlled a loose puck in front of Golden Knights forward Brett Howden off of a ricochet in the Vegas zone.
“Now if it was Game 58, who knows how we would have felt but it was Game three and there was more a vibe of ‘we’re coming.’’ said Cooper.” Every lineup was trying to pick up the next line and the guys who have delivered for a long time, delivered.”
Tampa Bay could have taken command late in the third period as it went on a 5-on-3 power play with 17:47 remaining.
Vegas stopped the Lightning’s two-man advantage, but the Lightning proved its staying power as it posted 22 hits and maintained continued the ability to out play Vegas until the Lightning actually struck in the same place twice in the late third.
“They went out there and played the game hard and in the right way and we just followed along in the third,” explained Hagel. “When the puck was behind them, we managed the puck and that was kind of our game plan going into the third.”
Tampa Bay goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy to three goals in the game as Vegas just was 1-of-15 in the final two periods.
