Sunday, 4 a.m.
When your predecessors are looking on, why not play a game for the ages?
The Tampa Bay Lightning, playing in front of several members of the 2004 Stanley Cup Champions, had one of their finest games of the season Saturday night in a 7-0 pasting of the Philadelphia Flyers.
One of the alums of that title team for the Bolts was John Tortorella, now the coach of the Flyers, who didn’t get to see a lot of the game. He was ejected with a game-misconduct call halfway through the third period.
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The Bolts, who had been 1-4-1 in their previous six games, got big performances in the win.
— Goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy had his 34th career shutout in the win.
— Defenseman Darren Raddysh had five assists in the game, a team record for a defenseman.
— The power play scored on three of four chances.
— Victor Hedman had two goals.
— Newcomer Anthony Duclair had a goal and an assist in his team debut.
Besides Hedman, the Bolts got goals from Nicolas Paul, Conor Sheary, Brayden Point, Duclai and Brandon Hagel.
It was a welcome site for a team that had been struggling. Perhaps part of the reason were the old guys looking on. And perhaps part was the new guys — Matt Dumba and Duclair.
“What can you say?” Said Lightning coach Jon Cooper. “Matt came in and brought instant energy to our group. He got in a fight. He did a lot of things we need back there. He competed very hard. And Duke? He came as advertised. When he’s playing, he can really add a dimension to our top six. He’s a blessed skater. He showed you his hands (when he scored by deflecting a pass by Steven Stamkos into the goal).”
The Bolts will not play again until they face the Rangers at home on Thursday night at 7 p.m.