On a night where the mention of Lightning was more a refection of the weather outside than the hockey team inside the St. Pete Times Forum, the Bolts looked to extend their winning streak to five straight games against the Toronto Maple Leafs. The Maple Leafs entered the game in the second of back-to-back games after falling to the Carolina Hurricanes 6-4 a night ago in Raleigh.
The Lightning got off to a quick start in this one, led by the strong play of Victor Hedman, who may have had one of the best periods of his young career in a Lightning jersey in the first period. The Lightning would dominate the period and take a 2-0 lead over the Maple Leafs on goals by Simon Gagne, his 9th, and Teddy Purcell, his 8th. The Lightning took a 17-4 shot advantage into the first intermission.
"I just tried to create momentum," Hedman said. "When you see a chance to create on the rush, you want to take it. There was quite a few in the first there, so I was lucky to be on the ice there, but I need to be more consistant and play a full sixty minutes."
In the second period, it was the Maple Leafs that would battle back a bit, out-shooting the Lightning 13-4. The difference in this frame however, would be Dwayne Roloson. Roloson made multiple key saves to preserve the Lightning's two-goal lead. The Lightning appeared to lose some of the jump they had in the first period in this period, but Roloson was there to bail them out.
Into the third, the Lightning played a solid defensive period. The Bolts out-shot Toronto 10-9, but the real story in that was the chances were not great, and Roloson was there to bail them out again. The 2-0 lead would hold up, and that would be the final score, sending the Lightning to their fifth straight win. For Roloson, the only thing that matters is getting the win.
"Right now, I forgot what the score was," Roloson said. "I know we won, and that's all that matters to me. As long as we win, I could care less if it is 20-19, or 1-0. As long as we are winning, I don't think anyone in this locker room cares about points, or goals, or plus/minus. They focus on winning hockey games, and doing the little things to win hockey games, and that's what makes this team special."
For head coach Guy Boucher, Roloson calming things down for the Lightning was a great thing.
"I think it's great," Boucher said. "We came out strong in the first period and that's how we played the entire last game. I think it got to our players heads in the second period because you could feel the comfort zone there and there was no urgency in our game at all."
The Lightning now head to the All-Star break on a five game winning streak, and in first place in the Southeast division. They have shown consistently that they are able to rebound when they hit a rough streak, and they have shown they can overcome adversity. The test will get tougher after the break though, as the home stand continues with Philadelphia and Washington coming to town.
The Lightning return to home ice Tuesday night. Face off is at 7:30.
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This article appears in Jan 20-26, 2011.