Saturday was an ideal day for sports in Tampa Bay, with the Rays, Rowdies and Lightning all in action. The Lightning were coming off a 5-1 loss to the Rangers in their season opener and were looking to bounce back in front of their home crowd.
Fans showed up hours before puck drop, packing Thunder Alley along the blue carpet for player arrivals. The building was buzzing before the team even took the ice, and after the way last season ended, the Lightning wanted nothing more than to give the fans something to celebrate.
IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect“It was massive. I think these fans have shown up every single year since I've been here,” said Hagel. “Obviously, being traded to Florida, I didn't know what the hockey scene was going to be like being from Canada. But I came in here, and since the day I got here, it's honestly been incredible.”
“They continue to show up every night,” Hagel added. “They continue to sell out this building every single night. And as a hockey player and living your dream, I think that's all you can ask for and I'm just grateful to play here. I continue to say it, it's one of the best fanbases in the league."
The Bolts were facing a Capitals team playing the second half of a back-to-back after opening the season Friday night in Raleigh. Jon Cooper went with an 11-forward, seven-defenseman lineup, which allowed him to spread the minutes around fairly evenly.
“Everyone has a role on this team, and everyone has a different role. If you can just go out there and do what you're asked, it doesn't matter how many forwards, how many defensemen are in the lineup,” said Hagel. “Just go out there, compete, do your role, and the coaches will take care of that.”
Defenseman Charle-Edouard D’Astous kicked things off, giving the Lightning their first lead of the season just 2:26 into the game. Next, Hagel found Conor Geekie at the right circle on the rush to put them up 2-0.
Geekie joked that just two years ago, Hagel gave him a similar pass, but he hit the post.
"I told him in the intermission, I said you gave me one two years ago and I missed,” said Geekie. “He kind of faked me out a little bit too, but again, I was just ready and made sure I put it home."
Emil Lilleberg, who sat out in Thursday’s season opener but drew in as the seventh defenseman Saturday, gave his team a spark at the perfect time. With 5:04 left in the second period, Lilleberg dropped the gloves with the 6-foot-7 Vincent Desharnais. The crowd resembled WWE SmackDown, and the building came alive.
Lightning forward Pontus Holmberg later went face to face with Capitals defenseman Jakob Chychrun after the two started shoving away from the puck. Tom Wilson challenged Jeff Viel on the Lightning bench. Nothing came of it, but Wilson was given a 10-minute misconduct later in the game.
The Lightning won 63% of the draws against the Capitals on Saturday night after winning just 39% in the season opener. Jake Guentzel secured the win with an empty-net goal with 2:05 remaining.
Though Tampa Bay went 0-for-3 on the power play, they looked more cohesive and produced more scoring chances than they did Thursday.
“The boys got pride in there,” Cooper said after the game. “Our job is to kind of put your thumb on them a little bit, and they responded. And never sitting here saying that two games is adversity, but you learn a little bit about your team, and we learned something (Saturday).”
The Lightning will practice Sunday before hosting the Philadelphia Flyers Monday night.
