The Lightning pushed through the second period, beating the Blues 6-1.
The win wasn’t perfect but the Lightning needed it. While acknowledging their ongoing second period struggles, the team expressed their need to simplify their game. The results speak for themselves.
The Bolts took a quick two-goal lead in the first period, and then seconds after Blues forward Brayden Schenn nailed the post, Nikita Kucherov was set up perfectly by Nick Paul and Brayden Point. He shot through traffic with 13.3 seconds remaining in the period to put them up 3-0. This was the push they needed heading into the first intermission.
The second period has been difficult for the Lightning as of late. Although they had a three-goal cushion, they still allowed 13 scoring chances.
“The problem was we got that lead and, then, we just started doing things that we've done in 2-2 games and 3-2 games that have cost us and, all of a sudden, we are doing them in a game where we didn't need to bring any risk into the game,” said Lightning coach Jon Cooper.
“We just gave St. Louis way too many chances to get back into this game and Vasy, fortunately, kicked them out but we had some mental fatigue there in the second period that I didn't really like but, anyway, we got through it and kind of carried it home."
Haydn Fleury scored his first goal since having a two-goal night on Oct. 28, 2021. After the game he spoke with media, saying that when he was a young player, Carolina defenseman Dougie Hamilton told him to, “Always shoot a rolling puck.”
“He’s got a lot of goals as a D-man, so you can listen to him,” Fleury said. “It was a knuckler. When it hit my blade, it got wobbly. It worked out tonight.”
Jon Cooper said Fleury has given the staff a reason to keep him in.
"Fleury's asset is his skating and he really skated pucks tonight, especially breaking out. I thought that was big for us and his game. Then, for him to get what I found out was his first goal as a Bolt, that was pretty cool."
His consistency as of late is a good sign as Mikhail Sergachev blocked a shot off his foot and left the game early on Tuesday night. His status is up in the air as he's still being evaluated. Fleury will likely step in the fill the spot if needed.
“In the end, we have to simplify our game and it sounds like a cliché but, when you do those things, you are hoping to put teams under duress making the game a little bit more unpredictable in their defensive zone and, then, if you are around it and shooting it enough, good things usually happen for you and it happened for us tonight especially in the first period and a little bit of the second,” said Cooper.
The Lightning turn the page quickly as they’ll face reigning Stanley Cup Champions, Vegas Golden Knights on Thursday night at Amalie Arena.