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Bolts Comeback Isn’t Enough in 4-3 Loss to Toronto

Justin Haas

By Jake Ricker

Overview

The Tampa Bay Lightning played a shaky game while the Leafs jumped on the Bolts early but nearly let it slip. The Bolts offense could just not get going in the early stages of this game and despite the late push could not hold the leafs to 3. As for the Leafs, they got their offense going when it mattered the most stopping the comeback. Let’s take a look at how we got here period by period.

First Period

The Bolts got off to a slow start in the first not really getting quality chances. Both teams battled it out though going back and forth keeping both sides of the scoreboard, Vasy even continued to make some unreal saves in desperation. It wasn’t  until a min after the halfway mark that the Leafs finally broke through as William Nylander rifled one home from the right circle to make it 1-0 Leafs. Just a few min later Nikita Kucherov took a Holding Penalty that would put the Bolts shorthanded. About halfway through the PK Tyler Johnson made an unreal effort to steal the puck and get on a breakaway. Unfortunately, Johnson was denied by Andersen, but the Bolts did successfully kill off the Leafs power play. The Bolts would then get a power play of their own but unfortunately could not get anything past Andersen. Despite a few chances and some great saves by Vasy, the Bolts were down 1-0 at the end of the first.

Goals: 1-0 Toronto

Shots: 9-9

Second Period

The Bolts played a better game in the shot department but things didn’t exactly go their way. Early in the second, it was all leafs as just 3 min in it was William Nylander once again getting one past Vasy to make it 2-0 Leafs. The Bolts continued to get chances but Andersen shut the door on all of them keeping the Bolts off the board. A min after the halfway mark the Leafs sprung back into action as Jake Gardiner ripped one from the slot to put the leafs up by 3. The Bolts would get another power-play chance as Tyler Bozak was called for tripping. Unfortunately for the Bolts, they couldn’t get one in the back of the net and they would still be down by 3. Towards the end of the period, Alex Killorn who has been really hot as of late found a rebound to stuff in and cut the lead to 2. Despite the extra shots, the Bolts trailed by 2 at a score of 3-1 at the end of 40.

Goals: 3-0 Toronto

Shots: 23-17 Tampa Bay

Third Period

The Bolts quickly got back into this one as just 58 seconds in Nikita Kucherov slapped the puck right past Andersen to put the Bolts within 1. Then Just seconds latter Yanni Gourde tipped a shot in front from Brayden Coburn that would tie the game at 3, it seemed as the Bolts came to play in the third. Unfortunately for the Bolts James van Riemsdyk got one back not much latter to make it 4-3 Leafs as they took back the lead. Both teams went back and forth for the rest of the period but neither got too many big chances. Both teams also played very disciplined as they took 0 penalties in the final 20 min. The Bolts would pull Vasy for a last-ditch effort but came up short as they fell to the Leafs 4-3

Goals: 4-3 Leafs

Shots 34-23 Vancouver

 

3 Stars

  1. William Nylander (2G, 1A)
  2. James van Riemsdyk (1G)
  3. Alex Killorn (1G, 1A)

Up Next and Final Strike

The Bolts Played a bad game early on but then played great late in the second and in the early parts of the third but did not play the full 60 min. If the Bolts just play like they did late in this game for the whole game they will be just fine. One positive from last night is that the Bolts did hold the Leafs to 23 shots which is much better from the normal 40+ plus so they will look to keep that up. Look for the Bolts to quickly rebound after this close loss. With that said Alex Killorn has been amazing as of late and continues to shine along with Nikita Kucherov. The Bolts will need both these guys to step up again

The Bolts will look to get a quick turnaround as they get set to take on the Buffalo Sabres Tuesday, February 13th at 7:00PM EST.

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