Sunday, 4 a.m.
Get them early, or do not get them at all. More and more, that is the lesson of the Tampa Bay Lightning.
The Bolts won another third period Saturday, and with it, another hockey game. Once more, they closed out a close game in the final period. Once more, they smothered an opponent in the most important of periods.
The Lightning won their eighth straight game Saturday, knocking off a strong Washington Capitals team 3-1.
And, once again, they were at their best late.
Content beyond this point is for members only.
Already a member? To view the rest of this column, sign in using the handy "Sign In" button located in the upper right corner of the GarySheltonSports.com blog (it's at the far right of the navigation bar under Gary's photo). Not a member? It's easy to subscribe so you can view the rest of this column and all other premium content on GarySheltonSports.com.
The Bolts outscored Washington 2-1 in the final period. They are now 28-1 in games they have led after two periods.
In their current winning streak, they have outscored opponents 16-4 in the final period. They have allowed four goals in four of the games; they have not allowed multiple goals in any of them.
Saturday’s was a tight affair, but Washington scored just once with 3:59 to play on a goal by Alex Ovechkin. Ovechkin got off 16 shots, but only three of them were on target and he had eight blocked.
Ovechkin now trails all-time goals leader Wayne Gretzky by 10 goals.
Luke Glendening scored his 11th goal. In the third period, Gage Goncalves scored his second. Brandon Hagel closed out the scoring with his 30th goal, an empty-netter.
Andrei Vasilevskiy won his eighth straight game. He now has 29 wins on the season.
“It’s a pretty confident group,” Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. “A lot of it is not for the reasons people think of. We’re doing it with defense. That’s been the key for us in this little stretch.”
The Bolts play at Florida on Monday night at 7 p.m.