TAMPA, Fla. – On stage, the plays, shows, and movies all feature a primary plot line in the beginning and often, the plot line can change and take the writer’s point of view in a different direction.
Tampa Bay edged Nashville, 3-2, in overtime Monday night which most would have solidified as the primary plot line of this “show.”
However, the return of star Steven Stamkos to Amalie Arena, where he donned the Lightning sweater for 16 years, cast an emotional tone for the Tampa Bay coaches, players and fans.
“I think I made an analogy this morning about playing an NHL game without fans and then it’s weird,” said Lightning coach Jon Cooper. “And then all of a sudden, a hockey game breaks out and you don’t think about it anymore.”
The team saluted Stamkos with a video that capsulized his career.
“The toughest part is how do you fit 16 years into a two-minute frame?” quizzed Cooper, who mentioned Stamkos’ first goal back in 2020 after an injury. “It almost doesn’t feel right. I thought it was extremely well done. In the end, it doesn’t matter how you do it, you will never do it justice.”
Stamkos picked up an assist on both of Nashville’s second-period goals as he fed Ryan O’Reilly on a power play and then gave up the puck to Gustav Nyquist, who scored on an odd-man rush to tie the game at 2-2.
“I can’t imagine how Stammer was feeling that game,” said center Brayden Point. “It was great to see him get a couple of points and the crowd cheers when they announced his assists, which I feel was really cool.”
Stamkos was and is a pillar in the Tampa community as well as a sports icon as he is the Lightning’s all-time leader with 1,082 games played, 555 goals, 1,137 points, 214 power-play goals and 442 power-play points. Stamkos also amassed 13 overtime goals with 85 game-winning scores.
“I was fortunate that I was here for a decade of those years,” said Cooper. “I go to experience it live and in real-time and experience those ups and downs. It brings back lots of those memories and is a watershed moment.”
Bolts Strike in OT: Tampa Bay survived a long shift by the Predators in the overtime period.
The Lightning used Kucherov, Point and Victor Hedman through most of overtime. They were on the ice until around the 2:30 mark when Nick Paul, Jake Guentzel, and Ryan McDonough took to the ice.
Guentzel found Paul ahead of Nashville’s Ryan Josi and Paul slid the puck in for the 3-2 overtime decision.
“From our meeting at intermission, it seemed like we weren’t managing the puck as well,” noted Point. “I think in the first and third, we were playing simple and using our legs and that’s kind of the strength of our team.”
The Lightning secured two goals to take a 2-0 lead after the first 20 minutes.
Point opened scoring at 9:49 when he took the puck high in the right circle and made his move in front of Nashville goalie Juuse Saros. He backhanded the puck past Saros for his sixth goal of the season and a 1-0 Lightning lead.
“Just a chipped puck in the neutral zone,” commented Point. “Guentz did a great job separating his guy from the puck and he left it for me. I gotta little time and took the shot and it went in.”
Mitchell Chaffee made it 2-0 as he scored on a breakaway goal when he started on the left side of the ice and pushed the puck to the right crease where he scored at 19:25 into the first.
The Lightning looked like it had taken control of the game at the 2:27 mark of the second period when Kucherov appeared to have scored on a pass from Guentzel.
However on video review, the officials ruled an offsides penalty saying that Kucherov “preceded the puck into the offensive zone and was in an off-sides position prior to his goal.”
