Wednesday, 4 a.m.
Finally, the Tampa Bay Lightning looked like, well, the Tampa Bay Lightning.
After a sluggish start to the season, the Bolts reminded you of who they have been in the past several seasons on Tuesday night.
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They had exceptional goaltending.
They owned the third period.
They killed penalties.
They blocked shots.
They got a goal from Brayden Point.
Oh, yeah. And they won.
The Lightning blanked a talented Carolina team, 3-0, behind Jonas Johansson’s second career shutout (his first with the Bolts). As usual, Johansson had to work for the win. The Hurricanes had 33 shots. So far this season, Johansson has faced more shots than any goaltender in the NHL.
"I don't think we gave them anything all night," Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. "It's funny about this game. You can look down and say "Carolina had 33 shots." But I thought we kept everything outside. When things got hairy, our goalie was calm in net. It was a pretty workmanlike game.
"When you don't give up a goal in the game, it's more than just the goalie. I thought he was really good against Toronto (in an overtime loss)."
This time, he stopped them all in a relatively easy win.
In six games, teams have launched 217 shots at Johansson. Eighteen of them have found the net.
The Bolts had goals from Point (his first of the season after 51 a year ago), Alex Barre-Boulet (his second) and Nick Paul (his fourth).
The Bolts blocked 17 shots and turned away four power plays in the win.
Tampa Bay plays the San Jose Sharks Thursday night at 7 p.m. at Amalie Arena.