Kucherov, Point, Hedman and Paul all had three-point performances.
Santa came early this year for fans in Tampa. The Lightning played with emotion last night, defeating the reigning Stanley Cup Champions 5-4. Emotion on the ice is something we haven’t necessarily seen yet this season from the Lightning and it shifted the momentum of the game.
Brandon Hagel’s fight with Ivan Barbashev in the second period invigorated both his team and the crowd at Amalie. The arena sounded like we were back at a 2021 Stanley Cup Final game.
The first period began a bit slow. The Lightning outshot Vegas 11-9, but created few scoring opportunities for themselves. Vegas made it difficult for the Lightning to generate looks close to their net and the game was starting to feel similar to what we’ve seen for most of the season.
The second period has been a known struggle for the Lightning this year and last night started off in a similar fashion. They spent several shifts stuck in their own zone, forcing Vasilevskiy to make some big saves. Then Alex Barre-Boulet tipped a pass in from Victor Hedman putting the Lightning on the board. Just shortly after, Barbashev handed a hard hit to Anthony Cirelli and as they say, the rest is history.
Hagel challenged Barbashev to drop the gloves, throwing his hands up in the air and hyping up the crowd. It worked. The Lightning went up 4-2 to start the third. Nick Paul grabbed the game-winning goal, flicking the puck in the net from a sharp angle with 1:13 left to put them up 5-4.
“It went from game 34 to a playoff game atmosphere and you look at our team and you want to have your guys show emotion,” said Lightning coach Jon Cooper. “Hags most definitely brought the team into the fight tonight, no pun intended.”
The last part of December is critical for the Lightning in grabbing the points they missed out on at the start of the season. Last night’s win against Vegas could be one that helps turn their season around and gives them the confidence they need to compete for a playoff spot.