The Bolts Shock the Avalanche With a Decisive Victory

Kevin Flannery

By Philip Wunderlich

As mentioned in the pregame the Tampa Bay Lightning had to exploit the defense of the Colorado Avalanche and that is exactly what they did. They completely blew the skates off the Avs and largely due to the depth of the team and the strength of Steven Stamkos and his play as of late. Let’s dive into the game and find out exactly how the Bolts were able to pull off a dominant victory.

First Period

The Lightning came out hot right from the start as the Avs got called for the first penalty of the night at 2:28 into the game. Captain Stamkos would capitalize as he would score with about thirty seconds into the power play. The next penalty would be called against Yanni Gourde for a trip but luckily for the Bolts they would kill off the penalty and play would resume. Stamkos would again score on a break away and thus the Bolts would be leading 2-0. Nathan MacKinnon would be the only one to answer the fantastic play by the Bolts as he would score his 20th goal of the season. The Bolts would again score this period as Tyler Johnson received a feed right in front of the net by forward Brayden Point, thus the score was 3-1. Another penalty would be called this period as well and it would be the Bolts going to the power play as Nikita Zadorov got called for a trip, but luckily for the Avs the Bolts could not score on this one. The Bolts would lead in shots this period 13-8.

Second Period

This period was no different than the first as Alex Killorn would receive a sweet cross-crease pass from Yanni and this would leave the net basically empty for Killer. Ondrej Palat would also get on the scoreboard as this would result in the pulling of goaltender Semyon Varlamov. Anthony Cirelli has been red hot as of late and he would get his 6th of the year with just over 10 minutes into the period. The Bolts would get called for another penalty as Stamkos got called for a check to the head, luckily for the Lightning this would be only a two minute minor. The Avalanche would again not score this period and the Bolts would lead 6-1 going into the third period. The Lightning would also lead in shots this period 15-11.

Third Period

The Avalanche were getting chippy this period and eventually would be called for a penalty as Zadorov gets called for another trip. Ondrej Palat would get a feed from behind the net by Johnson and this goal was on the power play as well. JT Compher and Cedric Paquette got into a scrum towards the end of the period and they would both get called for roughing. Even though the Avs would lead this period in shots 11-10 it would be Palat’s earlier goal would be the victor as the Bolts would win the game with a score of 7-1.

Three Stars: