Friday, 2 a.m.
Well, hello old friend.
And welcome back.
If there was any question that the Lightning missed forward Brayden Point, he made it clear enough in the Lightning's 7-3 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs Thursday night. Playing his first game of the season after hip surgery, Point knocked in two goals and showed the speed that his team has missed.
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The Bolts are now 2-1-1, but this was their finest game of the season. Besides Point's two goals, Nikita Kucherov also had two goals. Steven Stamkos, Kevin Shattenkirk and Ondrej Palat all scored.
"We didn’t know how Pointer was going to be," said Stamkos, "but he was amazing. It allows us to make plays. It’s game-changing speed. He creates so much space. He puts the other team on their heels. They have to respect him so much. He has a special gift."
The Bolts, coming off of an embarrassing loss to Carolina, healed a lot of wounds in what Stamkos called "a response game."
As for Point, he was glad to be back on the ice.
"You’re playing with two superstar (Kucherov and Stamkos) players. They make it easy for me to slide in. It’s one game."
Lightning coach Jon Cooper appreciated Point's efforts, too.
"It was a lot of fun to watch," Cooper said. "It's early in the year. It was outstanding effort. We skated, we played responsibly and we got rewarded for it.
“Pointer is an important player for us. He can dictate the speed of the game."
Andrei Vasilevskiy made 25 saves on 28 shots to improve to 2-1-0 on the season.
The Lightning plays Saturday in Ottawa at the Canadian Tire Centre. The puck is scheduled to drop at 4 p.m.
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