The Lightning took to the long road west on Tuesday night in a rare match up against the Calgary Flames, 6.5 years to the day after defeating Calgary for their first Stanley Cup. The Bolts entered the game hoping to continue their winning ways, coming off a victory Saturday night against the Colorado Avalanche. They fell just short of that goal, losing to the Calgary Flames 4-2.
The Lightning fell into an early hole that they ultimately would not be able to climb out of. Calgary got off to a quick start when former Lightning defenseman Cory Sarich scored his first goal of the year at the 7:21 mark of the first period. Sarich got a shot through that beat a screened Dan Ellis to put the Flames on the board. Calgary would extend their lead to 2-0 at 13:46 of the first when the puck took a strange bounce off of the end boards, right to a wide open Tom Kostopoulos, who beat an out of position Ellis to give the Flames a 2-0 lead.
Overall, the first period was not a good frame for the Lightning. They spent a good portion of the period trying to find their legs and at a territorial disadvantage.
This article appears in Dec 2-8, 2010.