BOLTS OF LIGHTNING

Only two contests in this segment and Tampa Bay was 1-1 for 2 points. Check out how the Lightning did in those two tilts.

GAME REVIEW

GAME 33 RANGERS 2 LIGHTNING 6

Tampa Bay used a three goal second period to turn a close encounter into a 6-2 victory Saturday at Amalie Arena over New York. The win pushed the Bolts to 20-11-2 for 42 points. The loss dropped the Big Apple Gang to 16-18-1 and that adds up to 33 points.

The Lightning dented the scoreboard early in the opening period with a power play marker at 2:27. F Nikita Kucherov (16) did the honors with F Brayden Point (18) and F Jake Guentzel (17) credited with the assists.

New York tied the affair at 1-1 at 9:23 but Tampa Bay took back the lead for good at 18:11 of the first stanza. D Ryan McDonagh (1) recorded his first goal of the season with the Bolts on the penalty kill with F Anthony Cirelli (18) getting the only helper. That sent both teams to the first intermission with the Lightning holding a precarious 2-1 advantage.

The home team broke it open with a trio of unanswered goals in the middle 20 minutes. The barrage started at 3:35 with Point (23) putting the biscuit in the basket with Kucherov (36) tallying the only assist. Tampa Bay made it 4-1 at 5:02 with another shorthanded score this time with Cirelli (14) lighting the lamp with F Brandon Hagel (24) notching the assist. The Bolts finished the second period scoring at 8:08 with another man advantage goal with Guentzel (20) putting the puck over the line with Point (19) and Kucherov (37) recording a multiple assist evening. That gave the Lightning a huge 5-2 lead after 40 minutes of play.

Both teams traded goals in the third period. The Rangers put up a shorty just 13 ticks into the final period with the Bolts answering with an empty net unassisted score by F Nick Paul (9) at 14:12 making the final count 6-2 in favor of the Lightning.

G Andrei Vasilevskiy (16-10-1) recorded the victory turning away 42 of 44 shots on goal.

GAME 34 CANADIENS 5 LIGHTNING 2

Montreal scored twice in the final period to secure a 5-2 triumph over Tampa Bay Sunday at Amalie Arena. The Habs improved to 16-17-3 and that computes to 35 points. The Bolts fell to 20-12-2 for a total of 42 points.

The Canadiens opened the scoring with the only goal of the first period at 12:07. The Lightning knotted the score 37 seconds into the middle period with Hagel (17) recording an unassisted goal.

Montreal took the lead back at 12:34 and made it 3-1 at 18:28. The Lightning cut the deficit 26 seconds later to 3-2 with Kucherov (17) recording the goal and Point (20) combining with D Darren Raddysh (11) for the helpers.

Montreal sealed the deal with a couple of final period scores. The first at 12:32 and the final goal being an empty netter at 18:08 to make the final arithmetic 5-2 in favor of the Canadiens.

G Jonas Johansson (4-2-1) absorbed the loss saving 32 of 36 shots.

ANALYSIS

*G Johansson had a victory ride curtained at three with the loss to the Canadiens.

**Kucherov leads the National Hockey League in multipoint contest with a dozen.

***D Victor Hedman is now in sole possession of first place in career games played with 1,084 for the Lightning passing former Bolts F Steven Stamkos.