Stamkos leads Lightning to a win over Montreal

by Gary Shelton on October 16, 2019 · 0 comments

in general

Stamkos led the Lightning to a victory./CARMEN MANDATO

Wednesday, 4 a.m.

First, he lectured them.

Then he led them.

And just like that, Steven Stamkos had provided further argument that he remains a leader of the Tampa Bay Lightning.

After the Bolts' lifeless loss to Ottawa on Saturday night, Stamkos chided other members of the Lightning. Then, on Tuesday night, he scored a goal and had an assist to lead Tampa Bay to a 3-1 victory over Montreal.

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The Bolts, off to a pedestrian 3-2-1 start on the year, had been especially flummoxed in a loss to Ottawa. After that game, Stamkos was annoyed.

“We just continue to be the freewheeling team that thinks we can just come into games and win because we’re skilled,” Stamkos said. “We keep falling back into the same old bad habits that we’ve been doing, that cost us the season we had last year.”

Tuesday's game wasn't perfect, but it was better, especially five-on-five.

The Bolts still took five penalties, and they had just 22 shots. But winning feels better than losing, so it was easy to call this a bounce back.

"We marginally bounced back," Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. "We had five penalties. You can't do that. Turnovers started to creep into our game. We didn't have penalties for two periods, but it put us on our heels.

"I thought we probably sat back a little too much in the third period. It's tough."

The Bolts, down 1-0, tied the game with seven seconds to play in the first period on a goal by Braydon Coburn on a pass from Stamkos. Stamkos scored his own goal for the lead in the second period, and Tyler Johnson rounded out the scoring.

Andrei Vasilevkiy stopped 33 of 34 shots.

"We're still addressing some things," Stamkos said. "When you’re playing the right way, that takes care of itself. I thought we did that. That’s when we started getting some momentum."

The Lightning plays at the Boston Bruins on Thursday night. The puck is scheduled to drop at 7 p.m.


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