By The Tampa Bay Lightning delivered another message to their little brothers down south, as the Bolts beat the Florida Panthers 6-1 on Thursday Night in the final game before the Olympic break.
This was just another hockey game until the third period, when Nikko Mikkola decided he would glide by Nikita Kucherov and deliver a chop to the leg of Kucherov right below the knee as play was stopped.
After the Mikkola hit at 4:06 of the period, it turned into a Lightning-Panthers fighting exhibition that we have seen in every game this season, going back to the preseason.
A total of 147 penalty minutes were called in the slugfest.
Let’s face it: over the last two seasons, the Panthers have toyed with the Lightning in the regular season and defeated them in the playoffs, sending the Lightning to an early summer vacation.
That will not be the case this year. This is not the same old Lightning team that will get outmuscled, outphysicalled, and run off the ice like a dog with its tail between its legs.
This Lightning team is tough, physical, and can also beat any team straight up with their hockey skills.
At the Olympic break, the Lightning are 37-14-14, with 78 points, and are tied with Carolina for the top spot in the Eastern Conference.
The Lightning are just five points behind Colorado for the best record in the NHL.
Brandon Hagel got the Lightning on the board first at 2:08 of the first period, his 27th goal of the season, to give the Lightning a 1-0 lead.
That was really all the Lightning would need, as the Panthers were never able to get much going offensively till their lone goal halfway through the third period.
Zemgus Girgensons, Jake Guentzel, Pontus Holmberg, and Oliver Bjorkstrand all got their names on the scoresheet, and Erik Cernak picked up his first goal of the season in the 6-1 win.
With the win, the Lightning are now 19-1-1 in their last 21 games, a new franchise record.
Andrei Vasilevskiy continued the stellar play that should catapult him once again into the Vezina Trophy conversation as the best goalie in the NHL.
Vasilevskiy stopped 34/35 shots to help the Bolts get the win.
After a sloppy first period in which the Bolts were outshot 19-7, the Lightning still managed to go to the locker room with a 2-0 lead.
The Lightning would hold Florida to just 15 shots over the final two periods, as the Bolts just got better as the game went along.
Lightning coach Jon Cooper says that the Lightning haven’t been perfect, but there is still a lot of hockey yet to play.
“Have we been the perfect team the whole time? No. Have we played pretty well most of the time? Yes. The times we haven’t, the goaltender bailed us out, or the penalty kill or the power play, and it’s all clicked for us.”
“You can’t sit here and say the next 25 or whatever games are going to go like this, but in a division that just keeps winning, in a conference that’s been super tight all year, it’s nice that we’ve helped ourselves out just a long way.”
The Lightning currently leads their division by six points, with two games in hand on Detroit and three on Montreal.
The best news of the night was with the Lightning’s win over the Panthers; Florida’s playoff chances are now on life support.
The Panthers trail the Lightning by 17 points in the division, are in last place in the conference, eight points out of the final playoff spot.
With the win, the Lightning win the season series from the Panthers 3-1, outscoring the Panthers 15-9 in the four games.
Brandon Hagel talked about the rivalry with Florida post-game.
“ There’s a little bit something different to it. I can’t even pinpoint what exactly it is, but it’s just been going on. And it’s good. It builds character in this dressing room. It brings a team closer together.”
“Obviously, they’re an incredible team over there. Look what they’ve done the past three years. We want to get back to the top. And when you want to get back to the top, you got to beat the top.”
-Twelve Lightning players were named to the Olympic team, with Braydon Point and Anthony Cirelli being replaced on the Canadian team due to injuries.
The Lightning will play their next game following the Olympic break at home against Toronto on February 25th.
