Matt Dumba made his presence known in his Lightning debut.
Matt Dumba made his presence known in his Lightning debut.
The Tampa Bay Lightning had a dominant performance against the Philadelphia Flyers, defeating the Metropolitan club by a 7-0 final score. They flexed their offense muscles and showed they can still be an elite club.
Matt Dumba debuted for the Lightning against Philly, and the veteran defenseman left a fantastic first impression. The Regina native had two hits, one block, and a plus-1 rating in 20:04 of ice time.
Yet, Dumba's most significant moment from the win was when he dropped the gloves with Flyers captain Sean Couturier. The right-shot defenseman threw some big punches during the tilt and showed Lightning fans he can be quite a gritty player. That is something that the Lightning's blue line could use more of.
Dumba's toughness is one of the main reasons the Lightning brought him in, and he showed it during this tilt. He also displayed that he's very effective at playing big minutes.
Nevertheless, this was a successful debut for the 2012 seventh-overall pick, and he gained plenty of respect from Bolts fans because of it. Let's see how well he keeps this play up from here.
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