The Tampa Bay Lightning scored twice late in the third period to send the game to overtime, but Vladislav Gavrikov scored less than 30 seconds into the bonus frame to give the Los Angeles Kings a 4-3 victory. Brayden Point and Steven Stamkos had power play goals while Stamkos added a second with under a minute to go in regulation to tie things up. Andrei Vasilevskiy made 19 saves on the night.
It wasn’t a bad start for the Lightning as they managed a few quality chances. Mitchell Chaffee and Steven Stamkos were both able to slip the defense and have one-on-one looks with Cam Talbot only to have the goaltender swat them aside for two of his 22 saves on the night.
As the period wore on, some self-inflicted mistakes started to creep in as they struggled with some turnovers in their own zone that either led to chances for the Kings, or just slowed up their breakouts. Eventually, L.A. would open the scoring, but it took a perfect pass from Anze Kopitar to Adrian Kempe, who was parked on the doorstep for the deflection.
Adrian Kempe (Anze Kopitar, Quinton Byfield) 1-0 Kings
Nick Paul went to the penalty box shortly after the goal and it took a concerted effort, and a few outstanding saves from Vasilevskiy, to keep the Kings from extending the lead to two goals. Following that stretch, the Bolts did kind of get things back under control as both teams played with a little pace. Tampa Bay was able to pick up seven high-danger chances at 5v5, a high number for a normally buttoned-up Kings team.
It would be on the power play where the Lightning ended up striking. Kopitar hooked down Stamkos in the Bolts’ zone and it didn’t take long for Tampa Bay to capitalize. They won the face-off (always important) and allowed Kucherov all kinds of space down low. He eventually walked in on Talbot and attempted a shot, but whiffed. The loose puck came to Brayden Point who shuffled it past the goaltender for the game-tying goal with just six seconds left before the bell.
Brayden Point (unassisted) Power Play, 1-1
Hockey players make hundreds of decisions on a nightly basis in regards to how to read plays, when to shoot, when to pressure the puck, and when to back off of a play. If they’re in the NHL it means they make the correct read a vast majority of the time. However, there are times when they don’t. Just two minutes into the second period, Nick Paul didn’t choose correctly when it came to defending the front of the net.
With the Kings pressuring, he chose to follow Pierre-Luc Dubois to the side of the net, and vacated the front of the crease. That didn’t pay off as the puck squeaked to the empty area and Trevor Moore was there to swat it past Vasilevskiy.
Trevor Moore (Pierre-Luc Dubois) 2-1 Los Angeles
After the goal, the game settled back into its high-paced grind. Both teams were aggressively defending their bluelines and it led to a lot of quick changes in direction on the ice. A power play for the Lightning led to nine shot attempts, but only two found their way on net. The Kings give their opponents all of the room at the perimeters, but do an excellent job of blocking shots and clearing away second chances.
Tampa Bay returned the favor a few minutes later, killing off a Matt Dumba penalty rather easily as they allowed just one shot attempt (which was blocked). Strong penalty killing has been a key piece of the Lightning’s current winning streak.
There were a few chances over the rest of the period for both teams, but nothing that led to goals. The Kings really locked down their own zone, and allowed just three high-danger chances at 5v5, which limited the Lightning to just seven shots on goal at even strength.
Drop passes inside the offensive zone can be an effective way to open up some space for a shot. They can also lead to breakaways for the other team if there is a miscommunication. The Lightning had one of those cross-ups to begin the third period as Darren Raddysh intended to drop a pass back to Kucherov, only Kucherov wasn’t quite where Raddysh passed the puck.
Mikey Anderson was and he streaked away on a two-on-one. Victor Hedman played the pass, giving Vasilevskiy a clear look at Anderson who came into the night with just one goal on the season. It seemed like a reasonable decision that didn’t pay off as Anderson snapped one over Vasy’s glove to make it 3-1.
Mikey Anderson (unassisted) 3-1 Los Angeles
As a team with a strong defense, the Kings are pretty good at locking things down in the third period. They entered the night with a 20-0-3 record when leading after two periods, so mounting a two-goal comeback would be a Herculean task for the Lightning.
A power play would make that chore easier and as the game ticked under seven minutes, the Lightning went on the advantage. It took a little while, but they found a way to get the puck to Steven Stamkos in a dangerous area and The Captain unleashed a one-time that beat Talbot cleanly.
Steven Stamkos (Brayden Point, Anthony Duclair) Power Play, 3-2 Los Angeles
That was so much fun, they did it again. With Vasilevskiy on the bench, the Lightning used the extra skater to tie things up. This time it was Nikita Kucherov feeding it to Stamkos for the one-timer that tied the game up. Some more credit should go Kuch’s way as he broke up a pass early in the six-on-five portion of the game that would have led to an easy empty-net goal.
Steven Stamkos (Nikita Kucherov, Victor Hedman) 3-3
Lucky for the east coast watchers of the game, overtime did not last long. A defensive miscue by the Lightning led to Vladislav Gavrikov getting a breakaway just 25 seconds into the bonus frame. He did not miss and the Kings had the 4-3 win.
Hey, a point is still a point.
