Just keep shooting.
— Vancouver #Canucks (@Canucks) October 12, 2018
Just keep shooting.
Just keep shooting. pic.twitter.com/MvhUKZqI5N
After having to shake off the rust from an entire offseason, the Tampa Bay Lightning spent Thursday night shaking the cobwebs from a four-day layoff following Saturday night’s season-opening, 2-1 shootout win against the Florida Panthers.
Entering Thursday’s game, the Lightning was one of just four teams to have only played one game (the others: Florida Panthers, New Jersey Devils and Edmonton Oilers). The visiting Vancouver Canucks, however, entered the game with just one win and two losses. Unfortunately for the Bolts, the visiting team did not continue its losing ways as the good guys earned themselves a 4-1 loss in front of a dejected Amalie Arena.
Right out of the gate, the Bolts looked much sharper than the team that took the ice on Saturday, and all their alert skating around the puck (and sending the biscuit across the crease) was rewarded when Brayden Point dinged a backhander off the post before the puck touched the sticks of Yanni Gourde and Braydon Coburn before once again finding Point who eventually cleaned up by putting it in the back of the net.
Pointer cleans up well. 🙌#VANvsTBL | #GoBolts pic.twitter.com/RYEonZ29pP
— Tampa Bay Lightning (@TBLightning) October 12, 2018
The Bolts outshot the Canucks 17-5 in the first period, but the second frame would be a grind thanks to a combined six penalties called. The Lightning survived its three penalty kills in the second, but a failure to capitalize on five power plays would come back to haunt it in the third when Vancouver defenseman Derrick Pouliot unleashed a shot from the left circle that deflected its way through traffic before making its way past Lightning goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy (who stopped all but two of the 26 shots he faced).
Two late-game empty-netters from Jake Virtanen and Markus Granlund put the game on ice and took the luster off of a good performance from Vasilevsky, the return of Lightning forward Tyler Johnson (who missed the season opener due to an upper-body injury) and another great outing from Bolts rookie Mathieu Joseph who made his presence felt again by delivering a big first-period hit on Vancouver defenseman Troy Stecher.
The Bolts are now 1-1-0 on the season and will look to rebound on Saturday, October 13 when the Columbus Blue Jackets come to Amalie Arena. Puck drop is at 7 p.m. EST.
