"Stevie Nicks famously sang the line "Lightning strikes / maybe once, maybe twice." But on Tuesday night, Tampa Bay exceeded Ms. Nicks's expectations, lighting up the night with four goals as they beat the league-best Avalanche to extend their win streak to eight games. It was tense and tight throughout, as the Bolts came back from a 2-1 deficit at the midpoint and could only exhale once they potted the empty netter."
"Jake Guentzel opened the scoring for the Lightning late in the first on the power play, when he had approximately one billion years to aim and fire from close range. The Avs responded in the second with a neat rebound goal and then a Brock Nelson softie. A depth Lightning who's taken on a slightly larger role this year-Zemgus "Big Z" Girgensons-knotted the score back up with a tap-in late in the second."
"The Avalanche were heading into this game off a rare loss, falling 2-1 to the Panthers on Sunday. Still, beating them still qualifies as a major event for any team, even one as experienced as Tampa. Colorado's 31-4-7 record makes them obvious favorites for the Presidents' Trophy. But over in the East, nobody's got a better points percentage or a better goal differential than the Bolts, who've shaken off a rough start to December to reassert their place in the NHL's vanguard."
Tampa Bay scored four goals to beat the league-leading Colorado Avalanche and extend an eight-game winning streak. The Lightning trailed 2-1 at midgame before tying on a Zemgus Girgensons tap-in and taking the lead when Nikita Kucherov created a two-on-one for Brandon Hagel's go-ahead goal. Jake Guentzel opened the scoring on a first-period power play. Colorado entered after a rare loss and still holds a 31-4-7 record, while Tampa leads the East in points percentage and goal differential. Regular-season excellence for Tampa has been accompanied by recent first-round playoff exits.
Read at Defector
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]