For a period and a half, the Tampa Bay Bay Lightning looked as if it was still somewhere on the road.
The Bolts, after a return from the west coast, were sluggish and sleepy looking. They fell behind 2-0 in the first period and 3-1 midway through the second.
Turns out, there was plenty of time left for a wake-up call.
The Bolts scored the games' final five goals to coast to a 6-3 win over the Minnesota Wild at Benchmark International Arena. The Bolts now have points in five straight games (4-0-1).
The game was tied at 3-3 with less than three minutes to play.
Erik Cernak scored the winning goal, only his second of the season. Cernak swooped in after Wild goaltender Filip Gustavsson fumbled the puck.
Darren Raddysh tied a Bolt record with his 20th goal by a defenseman.
Also scoring was Jake Guentzel, Brandon Hagel and Pontus Holmberg.
Bolts' goalie Andri Vasilevskiy stopped 20 of 23 shots for his 34th win.
The Bolts are home at Benchmark on Thursday night at 7 p.m. against Seattle.
Spend enough time on the road, and some stretches are going to turn rocky.
Ask the Tampa Bay Lightning, who saw their excellence away from home end in a 4-3 overtime loss to the Calgary Flames at the Scotiabank Saddledome.
The Bolts, who took seven of eight points on their latest road trip, rallied from a 3-1 deficit to force overtime.
Few teams have played as well as the Bolts out of a suitcase this year. The Bolts have won 23 games away from home, tied with Colorado for most in the league.
The Bolts took a 1-0 lead on a goal by Ryan McDonaugh, but Calgary scored three straight goals to take a commanding lead.
Darre Radysh scored his 19th goal to bring the Bolts back within one, and Pontus Holmberg tied the game with 4:20 to play,
Calgary won the overtime faceoff and kept possession until Ryan Strome ended the game with 26 seconds into overtime.
Goalie Jonas Johansson allowed four goals on 29 shots. He is now 10-10-1 on the year.
The Lightning returns home to the Benchmark International Arena with a game against Minnesota at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday.
Are there any superlatives that haven’t been used to describe the brilliance of Nikita Kucherov? Probably not. If the word is laudatory, then it's probably been used to describe Kucherov.
Once again, Kucherov was dazzling again in Saturday night's 5-2 victory over the Edmonton Oilers at the Rogers Place.
Kucherov had two goals and two assists to take over the NHL's scoring lead by two points. Kucherov now has 40 goals and 78 assists on the year.
It was his fourth season with at least 40 goals. Kucherov leads the Oilers' Connor McDavid by two points.
It was the third straight win for the Bolts.
Kucherov's biggest goal may have been his first-ever shorthanded goal as the Lightning was killing off a two-man Oilers' advantage.
Anthony Cirelli also had two goals, bringing him to 19 on the year. Jake Guentzel scored his 31st goal.
Goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 25 of 27 shots. The Oilers' second goal was actually an own-goal by Oliver Bjorkstrand.
The Bolts play at Calgary tonight at 6 p.m. at the Scotiabank Saddledome.
Because this is hockey, there are nights the offense dries up. There are nights the opposing goalie is too big, and the opposing net is too small.
Then there are nights where everything clicks.
The Tampa Bay Lightning scored six goals for the second consecutive game Thursday night, taking a 6-2 win over the NHL's worst team, the Vancouver Canucks.
Along the way, Jake Guentzel became the third Bolt to score 30 goals on the season (along with Nikita Kuchrerov and Brandon Hagel).
Kucherov had a goal and an assist and is now in second place (behind Connor McDavid) in the league scoring race.
Darren Raddysh, Anthony Cirelli, Yanni Gourde and Hagel also had goals.
The Bolts next play in Edmonton Saturday at 10 p.m. at the Rogers Place.
Wednesday, 4 a.m. It was apparent that the Tampa Bay Lightning had lost their mojo in recent days. But who knew they’d find it again in Seattle, of all places? The Bolts, 2-9 in their previous 11 games, looked a lot like the team that had closed out the first portion of the season so […]
Sunday, 4 a.m. Have you heard this one before? The Tampa Bay Lightning get off a dreadful start, an absolutely miserable start. They fall behind 2-0 in a hurry. And, surprise, they fight back. They tie score at 2-2, and turn catastrophe into something salvageable. Then, ignoring the opportunity to take over, they fade away […]
Friday, 4 a.m. Is it over? Is the plunge off of the cliff complete? Are the Tampa Bay Lightning through with their slump yet? Well, for a night, it was, anyway. The struggling Tampa Bay Lightning at least put their troubles on hold for a game Thursday night at Benchmark International Arena. The Bolts beat […]
Wednesday, 4 a.m. So who cares about the Olympics? Certainly not the Tampa Bay Lightning, who had the NHL’s hottest streak interrupted by this year’s Games. Since coming back, however, the Bolts are 2-6 and caught in mid-swoon. The Bolts were blown away by the Columbus Blue Jackers Tuesday night at Benchmark International Arena. They’ve […]
Monday, 4 a.m. Coming from behind was kind of cool. Falling from ahead? That was terrible. The bad news was worse than the good was. for the Tampa Bay Lightning Sunday night. The Bolts were hammered early, came roaring back and then were re-hammered late in an 8-7 loss to Buffalo. The teams, battling for […]
Sunday, 4 a.m. He is songs on the radio. He is drops in a rain forest. He is grains of sand on the beach. He is Nikita Kucherov, and he deals in points. Kucherov, the Lightning’s creative forward, was at it again Saturday night. He had four assists in the Bolts’ 5-2 win over Toronto, […]
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About Gary Shelton
• No one covers Tampa Bay like Gary Shelton.
• No one has seen as many moments, as many athletes, as many coaches as he has over the last quarter of a century.
• No one has won more awards, including two national Associated Press Sports Editors Best Columnist awards and eight top 10 finishes. He also just received his sixth Sportswriter of the Year award for Florida by the NSSA.
• No one has seen more big events, including 29 Super Bowls, 10 Olympics and 11 Final Fours. Gary still goes into the locker rooms to obtain his stories.
• No one has made you angrier, or laugh louder, or think harder about what he has written.
Now, he begins a website designed to keep him in touch with the readers who have grown up on his words.
