The Tampa Bay Lightning demonstrated an important asset in Saturday night’s rally against the Carolina Hurricanes — an ability to flip the script.
After that three-goal comeback and subsequent 6-4 win, the Lightning will wrap up their four-game homestand Monday night when they face the St. Louis Blues in the teams’ final game before the holiday break.
The Lightning looked dead in the water after allowing three Carolina goals and nearly a fourth late in the first 20 minutes, but coach Jon Cooper’s team rallied to tie it 3-3 and then 4-4 before scoring the final two goals, both by Jake Guentzel, to secure the win.
“You basically saw a formula of how to lose a game and a formula of how to win a game — all in a span of about two hours and 15 minutes,” said Cooper after his team ended a four-game home losing streak to get back to .500 at home (9-9-0).
The fourth line of Gage Goncalves, Jack Finley and Dominic James started the second, and Goncalves hit the back of the net in the opening 30 seconds.
“I actually thought they played pretty well,” Cooper said of the bottom trio of forwards. “I liked the energy they were giving us, and they had looks. I didn’t anticipate they would score — you hope that would happen — but I liked the matchup.”
Top points producer Nikita Kucherov (13 goals, 30 assists in 31 games) was back in the lineup after an illness and had an assist, but the club put Brandon Hagel (upper body) on injured reserve.
Over 32 games played, Hagel has produced 18 goals and 13 assists, providing an energetic boost to the Lightning’s attack.
In Sunrise on Saturday night, the Blues took advantage of the Florida Panthers playing on a home back-to-back, breaking out with a 2-0 lead and watching the two-time Stanley Cup champions rally before tallying four unanswered in a 6-2 win.
St. Louis, which will close out a two-game road trip in Tampa, is 5-3-1 in its past nine games as it tries to climb the standings in a Central Division that the Colorado Avalanche, Dallas Stars and Minnesota Wild are running away with.
After leading the Blues with two goals and an assist in south Florida, Robert Thomas said the champs were compromised but that he and his teammates were relentless.
“They had a tough back-to-back, playing at seven last night and then six, so the odds are kind of stacked against them,” said Thomas, who has nine goals and 18 assists in 33 outings. “That’s a great team, obviously, the best team in the league the last couple of years, so we knew what we had to do even when they came back and tied it. We just kept our foot down.”
The center has been impressed by new linemate Jonatan Berggren, who has played in three games and scored in two of them after being acquired from Detroit, which placed him on waivers.
Berggren, 25, has slotted into left wing on a line with Pavel Buchnevich at right wing and fit right in.
“He can make a lot of plays, has his head up a lot and wins battles,” Thomas said. “It’s been really impressive watching him, just his confidence level right when he got here.”
–Field Level Media
