The buzzer sounded in Sunrise as Tampa Bay closed out a dominating 6-1 win over the Florida Panthers. It wasn’t a close game that broke loose in the end. It wasn’t a particularly bad night for Panthers goaltender Scott Clemmensen (save for the Martin St. Louis knuckleball). No, this was a complete and thorough ass whoopin’ handed out by the Lightning. Every player pitched in and the result was a massive holiday “gift” for their in-state rivals.
From the stands, the game appeared to be a total thrashing of the Panthers . The Panthers did fire the opening salvo, but that lead lasted for a grand total of 19 seconds as the Bolts marched down the ice and Alex Killorn deposited a Valtteri Filppula pass into the net. The second period saw three more goals with Tyler Johnson putting in a backboard rebound, Filppula sweeping in a power play marker and Marty flubbing a one timer that still found its way in. Tim Wakefield would be proud. J.T. Brown netted two goals in the third period with Nikita Kucherov getting the primary assist on both tallies.
There sure are a lot of names in the previous paragraph. Tampa Bay’s depth is not only sustaining the team in Steven Stamkos’ absence, it is allowing the team to thrive. It is the fourth year of Steve Yzerman’s tenure as GM and the fruits of his labor are starting to show. Johnson was an undrafted free agent. The same can be said for Cory Conacher (whose trade brought Ben Bishop to town), J.T. Brown and Andrej Sustr and Ondrej Palat was a seventh round pick.
Teams cannot survive on high picks (see Edmonton Oilers). Picks in the first two rounds will usually bring talent (Kucherov, Victor Hedman, Stamkos, Jonathan Drouin), but great teams are made from lower round finds and timely acquisitions via trades or free agency.
Now that the Bolts have started reaping those rewards, the fans have joined in.
Buckle up, this is just the beginning.
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