All these years later, the descriptions practically write themselves. Brayden Point? He glides. Nikita Kucherov? He creates. Anthony Cirelli? He bleeds. Those are all compliments, by the way. Shorthand for a signature style of play.
Here are three reasons to like the Lightning’s new-look power play. Thursday’s moves were transformative, because the personnel and positional changes made it difficult to tell which was the top unit and which was the second. Point men Victor Hedman and Darren Raddysh switched units, with Brayden Point and Jake Guentzel matched with Raddysh.
Point missed a team meeting and won't play Tuesday versus the Bruins, Eduardo A. Encina of the Tampa Bay Times reports. This is likely to be a one-game absence for Point as head coach Jon Cooper sends a message on accountability.
Jake Guentzel scored the only goal in the shootout and the Tampa Bay Lightning beat the Anaheim Ducks 4-3 on Thursday night. Brayden Point, Anthony Cirelli and Guentzel scored for Tampa Bay during regulation while Andrei Vasilevskiy finished with 34 saves and stopped all three shots he faced in the shootout.
The Tampa Bay Lightning are currently third in the Atlantic Division with a 25-18-3 record and 53 points. However, the Ottawa Senators, Montreal Canadiens, and Boston Bruins are each just one point behind them,
Paul buried a shot-pass by Brandon Hagel near the net on the power play to make it 4-3 less than two minutes after Knies’ second goal. Tampa Bay forward Brayden Point appeared to tie the game late with a backhand shot that hit the crossbar, but the puck bounced through the crease without crossing the goal line.
There’s no goalie controversy: Of the Lightning’s 35 shots, 24 came over the final two periods. In the third alone Montembeault robbed Glendening, Kucherov, Michael Eyssimont and, in the final minute, Anthony Cirelli’s rebound.
Limited cap space and draft capital could affect what the Maple Leafs and Lightning do by the NHL trade deadline, but there are areas where they clearly need a boost.
The Canadiens’ Lane Hutson extended his assist and point streaks (13 points; one goal, 12 assists) to nine games, tying the NHL record for the longest assist streak by a rookie defenseman, set by Shayne Gostisbehere of the Philadelphia Flyers in 2015-16.
The loss to Toronto gives the Lightning a 3-7-0 record in the Atlantic Division, one they’d like to improve on. The good news? They have a chance to do it quickly in a Tuesday night matchup against the Montreal Canadiens. Montreal (23-19-4) has found their stride as of late, winning five of their last seven games.
The red hot trio of Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner and William Nylander have quickly helped the Maple Leafs turn a three-game slide into a new three game winning streak.
The Lightning begin the first night of their four-game roadtrip in a Monday night game against the Toronto Maple Leafs. Three of the Lightning’s next four games are Atlantic Division matchups, and with a 3-6-0 divisional record thus far, those are points they want to grab.