Lightning Continue To Sizzle On West Coast Swing
J.T. Miller hammered home the game winning goal in the seventh round of the shootout as the Tampa Bay Lightning defeated the Calgary Flames 5-4.
Ondrej Palat. Steven Stamkos, Alex Killorn, and Dan Girardi scored in regulation as the Bolts improve to 27-7-2 (56 points on the season).
A big part of the victory was the work of goalie Louis Domingue. Domingue made 33 saves on 37 shots and denied Calgary on six of its seven shootout attempts to pick up his 15th victory of the season.
Tampa Bay has now registered a point in 11 straight games and are a blistering 13-1-1 over their last 15 games. The streak has catapulted the Bolts to the top of the NHL standings, eight points ahead of the Toronto Maple Leafs.
It’s an impressive feat anytime a team puts a streak together like the Bolts have over their last 15 games, but especially when they are getting the best the other team has to offer on a nightly basis.
With their success in the last few seasons, the Bolts aren’t sneaking up on anyone. As one of the favorites to take the Cup this season, every opponent views them as a benchmark opponent. A way to measure their progress against the best. “We’ve found a way to win the high-scoring games, the goaltending battles. If it’s a special teams war, we’ve found a way.” Coach Jon Cooper said. “Especially early on, we were falling behind in games and guys found a way to come back. It wasn’t the best recipe for success but we’ve kind of found our game a bit. But this is a hard league to win in. Every second night you’re playing.”
Stamkos and Killorn’s goals came in the second period as Tampa Bay wiped out a 3-1 deficit. They took a brief lead with 4:25 remaining as Dan Girardi rocketed home a shot from near the blue line. Johnny Gaudreau answered for Calgary minutes later to tie the game and send it to overtime.
Sam Bennett, Sean Monahan, Mikael Backlund also scored for Calgary who see their record fall to 22-11-3 on the season.
Tampa Bay is currently 2-0-1 on their current four game road trip which concludes on Saturday night in Edmonton where they take on the Oilers.
