Credit: Twitter (@TBLightning)

The Tampa Bay Lightning’s mini-road trip to the Great White North was fruitful all-around and found the Bolts scoring eight goals en route to picking up two victories that brought the team’s record to 10-3-1.

The good guys returned to Amalie Arena on Tuesday for an Election Night showdown against the Edmonton Oilers, who brought a, 8-5-1 record to downtown Tampa. The Lightning’s 2018 campaign continued its surge as the Bolts kicked Edmonton’s ass 5-2 in front of a relatively subdued crowd (which did manage a “Vasy” chant in the second).

Steven Stamkos and Nikita Kucherov went to work early and orchestrated a clinical give-and-go that put the Bolts up 1-0 just four minutes into the game. Edmonton — which looked sleepy throughout the first half of the period — would eventually wake up and muster up 11 great shots against Andrei Vasilevsky who had to make an incredible helmet save after Connor McDavid split the Lightning defense and dished a dime to Ty Rattie who was left with his hands on his head after missing the wide open goal.

“Grand Theft Andrei” continued to be solid in front of the twine (and got an assist from the post after a shot by Oilers center Tobias Rieder) before Brayden supported his netminder’s efforts by scoring another goal to put the Lightning up 2-0 with just 25 seconds left in the frame.

Penalties opened the ice up in the second, and the Lightning gave up a 4-on-4 goal to Ryan Strome, but the guys in blue hockey sweaters countered quickly when Yanni Gourde bounced a Ryan McDonagh shot into the net to put the Bolts back up 3-1 with 6:41 left in the frame. The Stamkos-Kucherov romance would make another goal baby when No. 91 fed No. 88 who sniped a shot over the right shoulder of Oilers goalie Mikko Koskinen who had no choice but to watch the Bolts go up 4-1 before the horn sounded on the period.

Credit Vasilevsky who was sharp in a second that saw the Oilers outshoot the Lightning 15-9 and take the overall shot lead 24-26.

Our netminder — who finished the game with 33 saves on 35 shots — did give up a goal during the penalty kill that opened the third. He remained sharp throughout the third, however, as the Lightning poured it on thanks to J.T. Miller who deflected a puck into the net to make it 5-2 during a closing frame that was rather uneventful until impressive Bolts rookier Mathieu Joseph delivered a big hit on Oilers defenseman Kris Russell, which turned Oilers defenseman Milan Lucic into an angry wittle bear cub.

The freakish, 6-foot 3-inch, 231-pound 30-year-old proceeded to deliver an enforcing hit before completely losing his shit and eventually punching Joseph (a 21-year-old who gives up two inches and 40 pounds to Lucic) in the head while he was on his back on the ice. Lucic wasn’t done, however, and proceeded to jump onto Joseph, which ignited a legit line brawl. Lucic was ejected and given a 10-minute game misconduct as part of the fracas.

The Bolts, overall, appear to be firing on all cylinders right now, and while it’s early in the season, the Lightning look a lot like the Blue Wave Florida Democrats were hoping for tonight, which reminds us… we’ve got election returns to watch.

The Lightning’s next game is at home against the New York Islanders on Thursday, November 8. Puck drop is at 7:30 p.m.

This article appears in Nov 1-8, 2018.

Read his 2016 intro letter and disclosures from 2022 and 2021. Ray Roa started freelancing for Creative Loafing Tampa in January 2011 and was hired as music editor in August 2016. He became Editor-In-Chief...