Domingue won his eight game for Bolts./CHUCK MULLER
Monday, 3 a.m.
They are tough enough in the second period. They are dangerous in the third. They can be a handful in extra time.
But when the Tampa Bay Lightning attacks in its first period, it is something to behold.
For the second straight game, the Bolts jumped their opponents from the time the sound of the National Anthem faded, beating the New Jersey Devils 5-2 Sunday night. Tampa Bay scored four goals in the first 8:35 of the game and rolled.
“When you’re up pretty early, it’s a tough hole to climb out for teams," said Brayden Point, who scored two goals in the victory. He now has 17 on the year. "Sometimes
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Point has 17 goals on the season./CHUCK MULLER
even if they outplay you, it’s still a tough way to get out of. Getting the jump on things early is huge, and the past couple of games we’ve been able to do that, which is nice.”
Tampa Bay is now 17-6-1 on the season.
Bolts coach Jon Cooper said the formula for fast starts was simple.
Brian Boyle takes down Tampa Bay's Kucherov./CHUCK MULLER
"Attacking the net, shooting the puck, guys putting themselves in great positions to score," Cooper said. "We're just putting teams on their heels right away. Tonight, I think our first couple of shifts, we were in our zone a little bit, but it was really attacking the net and that's starting to pay off for us."
Cooper said that it can be hard for a team to maintain its focus.
"It's human nature when you take your foot off the gas, the other team's going to push," Cooper said. "There's so many different variables. You're making the other team chase the game right away. But I thought in the second period, here's the chance for them to push. I thought we handled it well. By the time you get to the
Stamkos rushes the net for Lightning./CHUCK MULLERi
third, it's tough giving up that goal in the third, but you’ve just got to make sure the guys are just doing the right things and thinking about our net as we feel like we have enough in their net to win us a hockey game. We've got a good group in there, and they've proven over time to close out games and they did that tonight."
For the Lightning, Alex Killorn, Tyler Johnson and Cedric Paquette also scored.
“It’s huge, I think," Paquette said. "Obviously, the last couple of weeks we’ve been struggling from behind in the first. For us, three or four goals, it’s good to play with a lead for sure.”
Said Victor Hedman: "It’s obviously how you want to start every game, but that’s not the case. In the third period, we stepped back a little bit too much, but I think that’s common in today’s hockey. You got to be like that and make simple plays. We got to push and try to make it a game.”
Goaltender Louis Domingue started his seventh straight game in net and stopped 33 of 35 shots. Domingue is now 8-3 on the season.
Tampa Bay plays against Anaheim at Amalie Arena on Tuesday. The puck drops at 7:30 p.m.
Paquette scores in the first period./CHUCK MULLER
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