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The Tampa Bay Lightning are the shining example of finding success despite adversity. They’ve dealt with more than their fair share of injuries, particularly to key players, over the course of this season and on Tuesday their injury woes reached a new height when they were forced to play with just four defensemen. Blueliners Jan Rutta, Zach Bogosian, and Erik Cernak were all unavailable due to injuries, the Lightning couldn’t rely on their taxi squad because that’s only for relief with COVID cases (Tampa Bay currently has no one in the protocol), and they didn’t have the cap space to call anyone up.
So, Tampa Bay played Los Angeles with just defensemen Ryan McDonagh, Cal Foote, Victor Hedman, and Mikhail Sergachev. All four of them had to log over 25 minutes and Hedman clocked in 32:37 minutes of ice time.
Hedman knew ahead of time that they were likely going to dress just four defensemen and he had trouble taking his pregame nap as a result. He was too excited. He said that while he doesn’t want to see anyone get hurt, but it was a “fun” way to “measure yourself,” per The Athletic’s Joe Smith. What a great way to look at it.
The Lightning went on to earn a 6-4 victory with Hedman chipping in two goals and an assist. With that, Tampa Bay has climbed to 27-9-5 and leads the Atlantic Division. They’re now halfway through the season and the only players who have managed to participate in all 41 games are Corey Perry, Alex Killorn, and Hedman. Nikita Kucherov and Brayden Point in particular have missed significant chunks of the campaign and presently another key forward, Ondrej Palat, is sidelined. But none of that has slowed down the Lightning thus far.
If their second half is anything like their first, there will be plenty of hardship and lots of a success.
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NY ISLANDERS 4 PHILADELPHIA 3 (SO)
Carter Hart stopped 28 of 31 shots in regulation time. He then was beaten just once in nine shootout rounds, but in this case that wasn’t good enough and the Flyers consequently lost their ninth straight game.
Semyon Varlamov turned aside 31 of 34 shots prior to the skills competition. He was then perfect in nine shootout rounds to pick up the win.
The Flyers were on track to win this game until Casey Cizikas tied the contest at 3-3 with 4:28 minutes left in the third period. It was his second goal and third point in 26 games.
Josh Bailey also scored a goal for the Islanders. He has three goals and 16 points in 27 contests.
Claude Giroux found the back of the net for Philadelphia. That gives him 12 goals and 30 points in 36 games.
CAROLINA 7 BOSTON 1
Jesperi Kotkaniemi scored a pair of goals, including the game winner. He has nine goals and 18 points in 36 contests.
Jaccob Slavin netted a goal and registered two assists for the Hurricanes. He’s up to two goals and 21 points in 34 games.
Tony DeAngelo assisted on three of Carolina’s seven goals. He has six goals and 28 points in 29 contests.
Frederik Andersen stopped 31 of 32 shots last night. This is the second straight start where he allowed just a single goal.
Tuukka Rask surrendered five goals on 12 shots in the first period. Linus Ullmark came out in the second and saved 20 of 22 shots the rest of the way.
BUFFALO 3 OTTAWA 1
Michael Houser made his first NHL start of the season and it was a great one. He turned aside 43 of 44 Senators shots to secure the win.
Dylan Cozens scored a goal and registered an assist for the Sabres. He has nine goals and 18 points in 36 contests.
Alex Tuch also provided Buffalo with a goal and an assist. That gives him two goals and seven points in seven games.
Ottawa’s goal was scored by Drake Batherson. It was his 11th goal and 31st point in 27 contests.
Anton Forsberg kicked out 29 of 31 shots last night. He’s lost his last three starts, but he’s allowed just two goals in two of those contests.
WASHINGTON 4 WINNIPEG 3 (OT)
Tom Wilson scored the overtime winner and registered an assist. He’s up to 12 goals and 28 points in 36 games.
Washington also got a goal and an assist from Dmitry Orlov. That gives him five goals and 19 points in 38 contests.
Vitek Vanecek stopped 30 of 33 shots last night. He has an 8-4-5 record, 2.49 GAA, and .911 save percentage in 19 contests.
Pierre-Luc Dubois contributed a goal and an assist for the Jets. He has 16 goals and 28 points in 35 games.
Connor Hellebuyck saved 27 of 31 Capitals shots. That’s the third time he’s allowed at least four goals over his last five starts.
VANCOUVER 3 NASHVILLE 1
Brock Boeser netted the game-winning goal. It was his 10th goal and 19th point in 33 games.
Elias Pettersson also found the back of the net for the Canucks. He has nine goals and 20 points in 39 contests.
Thatcher Demko saved 31 of 32 shots on Tuesday. He improved to 17-14-1 with a 2.62 GAA and .917 save percentage in 32 contests.
Nashville’s only goal was scored by Philip Tomasino. He has six goals and 13 points in 35 contests.
David Rittich stopped 21 of 24 shots last night. He was beaten twice on five shots in the third period.
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MONTREAL 5 DALLAS 3
Sam Montembeault saved 48 of 51 Stars shots. He faced an onslaught of 23 shots in the third period, but he managed to hang on to preserve the Canadiens’ lead. In fact, Montreal actually ended up outscoring Dallas 3-2 in the third period despite being outshot 23-8 in that frame.
Christian Dvorak scored a pair of goals for the Canadiens. He has seven goals and 14 points in 31 games.
Tyler Toffoli found the back of the net and registered an assist. That gives the Canadiens forward six goals and 19 points in 27 games.
Tyler Seguin and Joe Pavelski each had a goal and an assist for Dallas. In Pavelski’s case he now has 16 goals and 38 points in 36 contests.
Jake Oettinger stopped 14 of 19 shots before being yanked early in the third period. Braden Holtby came in and saved the three shots he faced.
CALGARY 5 FLORIDA 1
Johnny Gaudreau assisted on four of the Flames’ five shots. He has 15 goals and 43 points in 35 games.
Matthew Tkachuk scored a goal and registered two assists for Calgary. That gives him 17 goals and 35 points in 35 contests.
Jacob Markstrom turned aside 28 of 29 shots last night. He’s 13-8-5 with a 2.18 GAA and .926 save percentage in 26 starts.
At the other end of the ice, Spencer Knight stopped 26 of 31 shots. He’s surrendered at least three goals in each of his last four games.
Sam Bennett netted the Panthers’ other goal. It was his 16th goal and 24th point in 30 contests.
TAMPA BAY 6 LOS ANGELES 4
Victor Hedman scored two goals and registered an assist for the Lightning. He has nine goals and 43 points in 41 contests.
Mathieu Joseph, Nikita Kucherov, and Steven Stamkos each contributed a goal and an assist for Tampa Bay. In the case of Kucherov, he’s now on a four-game multi-point streak.
Alex Iafallo netted a shorthanded goal for the Kings. It was his 11th goal and 24th point in 38 games.
Cal Petersen kicked out 19 of 24 Lightning shots. That snapped his three-game winning streak.
Andrei Vasilevskiy saved 32 of 36 shots on Tuesday. He surrendered three goals on 18 shots in the second period, which led to the game being tied at 3-3 going into the second intermission. Tampa Bay was able to pull ahead in the third though.