The western Canadian portion of the Lightning’s five-game trip away from Amalie Arena commences Tuesday evening in Vancouver. The focus heading into the matchup with the Canucks will be on who is in the lineup.
Steven Stamkos missed Saturday night’s game in Seattle due to illness and Victor Hedman exited in the second period due to injury. The Lightning began the 4-3 overtime win with an 11/7 look.
As for the game itself, the Bolts had a 2-0 lead turn into a 3-2 deficit before Nick Paul evened things in the third period. They killed off a Kraken power play, the bulk of which spilled into overtime, before Nikita Kucherov ended the game with his second goal. It was a night in which the Lightning had to dig deep.
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“When adversity hits us, what do we do?” said Paul, after the game. “Do we rise to the occasion, or do we fold?”
The Bolts rose to the occasion and the momentum is something that needs to carry over against the Canucks regardless of the forward lines and defense pairings.
“We haven’t had a great record on the road so far,” said Paul, in referring to a 5-8-2 mark in opposing arenas. “We knew (the Seattle) game was big to kind of change that and build on it.”
The Canucks are an impressive 10-3-1 at home and have the fourth-most points in the NHL with 37. So, it would be a very good thing for the Bolts to get a point or two at Rogers Arena. That would best be accomplished by getting a lead and maintaining it.
“We have to play our game and we can’t give up the lead,” said Kucherov, after scoring his game-winner against the Kraken. “We need to play better and consistent. We didn’t do that (in Seattle), but we have to build from the win.”
While Kucherov has his lapses, his immense skill in the offensive zone cannot be questioned. His 47 points lead the NHL with Vancouver’s J.T. Miller, who formerly wore the bolt on the front of his sweater, second with 40. Kucherov’s 19 goals are tied with Toronto’s Austin Matthews, one ahead of the Canucks’ Brock Boeser.
Kucherov, who piled up 28 points in 14 games in being named the NHL’s first star for November, was the league’s first star for the week ending Sunday after scoring four goals (three game-winners) to go with three assists in four games.
Lightning fans who stayed up late Saturday will have three more late nights this week unless the DVR is set. After Tuesday’s game (10 p.m.) in Vancouver, the trip continues in Edmonton on Thursday (9 p.m.) and concludes on Saturday (10 p.m.) in Calgary. The Oilers, who host Chicago on Tuesday, have won seven straight to pull to 12-12-1. The Flames, who lost at Colorado on Monday and have road dates with Vegas on Tuesday and Minnesota on Thursday, have lost four of five and are 11-14-3.
The Bolts return to Amalie next Tuesday against St. Louis. Vegas arrives in town next Thursday to complete a two-game homestand.
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