Sunday, 3 a.m.
Well, look who is finally paying attention to the upcoming Stanley Cup playoffs.
The Tampa Bay Lightning, for the second straight game, went out and woodshedded an opponent Saturday night, shredding the Nashville Predators 6-2. In their last two games, the Bolts have scored 14 goals.
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The Lightning, who stumbled through most of their previous 20 games, appear to have awakened. The Bolts took a 2-0 lead, then scored the game's final four goals.
Forward Nikita Kucherov had a goal (his 21st) and two assists for Tampa Bay.
“He’s a pretty special player," said Lightning coach Jon Cooper. "He just makes other people better when he’s rolling and he’s on his game. He’s going to help drive lines."
The Bolts allowed just four shots in dominating the third period, the kind of shutdown hockey that Cooper has preached.
"That’s the big thing for us," Cooper said. "If we’re going to do anything, we have to look after our own end. People sit there and say 'we’ll you’re letting in goals. Why? Is it the goalie? Is it the defense?’ it’s the defensive structure. I love our (goalie) tandem, but I don't care who's in net if you’re not defending. They can only do so much.When you give your goaltender some help like we’ve been doing in the last couple of games, good things happen."
Has the lesson sunk in for good? Perhaps we will see tonight when the Bolts visit the Florida Panthers at 7:10 p.m.