May 20 Recap

Bolts Strike Back, Even Series at 2

         The Tampa Bay Lightning had a bounce back game to even the best of 7 series against the Pittsburgh Penguins at 2 games apiece. Victor Hedman, Nikita Kucherov, and Alex Killorn all finished the night with 2 assists each to cap off a complete team effort.

         Tampa had a lightning fast start with a goal off a deflection from Ryan Callahan just 27 seconds into the game. The Bolts got the start they wanted in a must win situation. They would continue to dominate for the rest of the period, extending their lead when defenseman Andrej Sustr appeared out of nowhere to finish off a pretty passing play at 14:28. After the 1^st, it was clear that Tampa Bay was the faster, more desperate team. Despite a few 1^st period scoring chances, the Penguins had yet to show the same level of urgency as Tampa.

         Things began to get ugly in the 2^nd period. Early on, Trevor Daley’s leg got caught in an awkward position as he absorbed a hit from Ryan Callahan. He would leave the ice in considerable pain. Not long after, tempers boiled over when Kris Letang lost his cool and cross-checked Brian Boyle, who was in his face all night. In addition, Letang got a roughing minor, which gave the Lightning a double power play.

         During the 2^nd minor penalty, Johnathan Drouin passed to Ondrej Palat in the slot, who immediately passed it back to Drouin to complete a clever set up at 14:38. The Penguins loss of composure had them down 3-0. Shortly after, at 17:48, Tyler Johnson, who was hit in the face by a puck during warmup, scored off a cross-ice pass from Nikita Kucherov. The Penguins entered the 2^nd intermission with a seemingly insurmountable 4 goal deficit.

         Penguins veteran goalie Marc-Andre Fleury made his first appearance of the 2016 playoffs at the start of the 3^rd period. The Penguins finally turned up the heat, with Phil Kessel rifling a shot past Vasilevskiy at 1:18, breaking his shutout bid. The Penguins would just keep coming, as Evgeni Malkin scored at 11:13 to cut the deficit to 2. Two minutes later, at 13:08, Chris Kunitz scored a power play goal off a rebound to make it 4-3. Unfortunately for Pittsburgh, their comeback attempt fell short, as the Lightning held on to win the game and tie the series at 2.

         The Penguins goalie situation will now make the series more interesting. Entering a crucial game 5 in Pittsburgh on Sunday, head coach Mike Sullivan will have to choose whether to start the young and talented Matt Murray or the highly experienced Marc-Andre Fleury in goal. On the other side of the coin, Tampa may get Ben Bishop and/or Steven Stamkos back, but it’s still largely unknown when the two superstars will return. With each team now 2 wins away from reaching the Stanley Cup Final, the rest of this series promises to be entertaining.