On the night the Tampa Bay Lightning honored the 2004 Stanley Cup-winning team and its former coach, John Tortorella, the current version put on a show Saturday night.
Lightning defenseman Darren Raddysh made NHL history while compiling five assists, blue-liner Victor Hedman scored two goals and assisted on other and goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped all 25 shots he faced, leading the Lightning to a 7-0 victory.
With Tortorella returning to Amalie Arena as coach of the Philadelphia Flyers, the Lightning organization invited back several players who won a championship 20 years ago. The trouble was, they didn’t get to watch their former coach in action for long.
With the defensively-sluggish Flyers trailing 4-0, Tortorella received a bench minor and game misconduct, but initially refused to leave the bench.
X (Twitter) users responded to the former Lightning players watching from a private box, obviously entertained by the fiery coach. Just like they remembered …
Flyers coach John Tortorella wouldn't leave after getting tossed 😂 pic.twitter.com/YNDaCzwFyZ
— Bally Sports Sun: Lightning (@BallyLightning) March 10, 2024
The Flyers’ sieve-like defense was evident two minutes into the first period as Hedman opened the scoring …
Firing rockets tonight🚀 pic.twitter.com/2EkvKXeecc
— Tampa Bay Lightning (@TBLightning) March 10, 2024
Four minutes, six seconds later, forward Nicholas Paul collected the first of three power-play tallies …
Duclair with the assist, Paul with the Goal.
Nice 👌 pic.twitter.com/mfVD4aFnML
— Tampa Bay Lightning (@TBLightning) March 10, 2024
Raddysh collected his milestone third assist in 9:10 as Conor Sheary scored his third of the season, giving the Lightning an early 3-0 advantage …
This is ugly now…#Flyers pic.twitter.com/zov0CoQmGH
— Flyers Nation (@FlyersNation) March 10, 2024
Raddysh’s first-period performance established a unique franchise mark …
Darren Raddysh became the first defenseman in @TBLightning history with three assists in the opening period of a game and did so in just a span of 9:10. 🍎🍎🍎#NHLStats: https://t.co/gZOyhQc1B2 pic.twitter.com/6uyRSkj7T9
— NHL Public Relations (@PR_NHL) March 10, 2024
Then came the fireworks, sparked by Brayden Point’s power-play maker. Tortorella just couldn’t take it any longer …
21 did somethin' for us. 😏 pic.twitter.com/SHcEr5IAiU
— Tampa Bay Lightning (@TBLightning) March 10, 2024
Down 4-0 midway through the second period, Sean Couturier attempted to show the Flyers could muster some on-ice pride …
Sean Couturier drops the gloves! #Flyers pic.twitter.com/1bac0Zv8nm
— Flyers Nation (@FlyersNation) March 10, 2024
But the effort Couturier attempted to display was on short supply. Three players could have taken Anthony Duclair out from the crease area, but he connected by standing in front of the net undefended. It was his first marker with his new club …
Making a statement 👊 pic.twitter.com/fK27wvfrSs
— Tampa Bay Lightning (@TBLightning) March 10, 2024
To make matters worse for the Flyers’ faithful, power forward Owen Tippett blocked a shot with his ankle, laid face down on the ice and exited. To the partial relief of the power forward’s fantasy hockey owners, Tippett returned a few minutes later …
Owen Tippett has exited the game after taking a shot to the ankle. pic.twitter.com/KdeIPGicoE
— Broad Street Hockey (@BroadStHockey) March 10, 2024
Brandon Hagel capped the scoring on Raddysh’s final helper at 8:16 of the third period …
Power play on par 👏 pic.twitter.com/42B45DIVTn
— Tampa Bay Lightning (@TBLightning) March 10, 2024
Final score: Lightning 7, Flyers 0 …
All gas, no brakes. ⚡️
📝: https://t.co/EIM0RaK79G pic.twitter.com/MXRXHWhfyg
— Tampa Bay Lightning (@TBLightning) March 10, 2024
Among the Lightning highlights Saturday, Steven Stamkos established a career milestone after being credited with two assists …
Steven Stamkos became the first player in @TBLightning history with 300 career multi-point games.#NHLStats: https://t.co/gZOyhQc1B2 pic.twitter.com/tSr0LVYcYX
— NHL Public Relations (@PR_NHL) March 10, 2024
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