The Day After 16.0: Tampa’s stars took over in comeback win over Oilers
By Cam Lewis
8 months agoAfter pulling off a comeback win earlier this week, the Oilers were on the losing side of a third-period rally in Tampa on Saturday.
Derek Ryan and James Hamblin both scored the first goals of their respective seasons to put the Oilers up 2-0 early but Nikita Kucherov scored two goals of his own to tie the game in the second. Edmonton had a 3-2 lead heading into the third and a 4-3 lead with just over 10 minutes left to play but they couldn’t close the door.
Steven Stamkos lit the lamp with a power-play goal to tie the game in the third and Luke Glendening put the Lightning on top under a minute later. Mikhail Sergachev fired a 195-foot snipe into the empty net to cap off a four-goal third period and a 6-4 win for Tampa.
The Oilers outshot the Lightning 43-to-23 in all situations and were the better team for significant portions of the game, but Tampa’s star players came up huge and snatched a win from Edmonton. Kucherov’s two goals pulled the Lightning out of an early hole and Stamkos came through in the clutch when they fell behind again in the third period.
Meanwhile, Edmonton got three goals from depth forwards and one from a defenceman but nothing from Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl. The power play went 0-for-5 and dipped to 22.81 percent on the season while the Lightning scored on two of their four opportunities.
Stuart Skinner wasn’t as sharp in this game as he had been during Edmonton’s previous three wins. He stopped only 18 of 23 shots, though Tampa’s fifth goal is the only one that you’d really classify as soft. We’ll likely see Calvin Pickard make his season debut on this trip. Skinner has started nine of the team’s last ten games and deserves a rest.
THE DAY AFTER IS PRESENTED BY BETWAY
What they said…
Head coach Kris Knoblauch on the Oilers blowing multiple leads…
“I didn’t like how we handled having the lead Their forwards getting behind our defencemen, and our forwards not protecting the middle of the ice as well as we should have.“I want us to play the same style, maybe be a little more conservative with the puck, especially in the offensive zone throwing pucks out to the slot and stuff like that. But overall, I still want the same pressure, same systems. We’re not changing anything other than maybe being a little more conservative with the puck.”
Zach Hyman on tightening things up defensively…
“We’ve been a team in the past that’s been able to win those six and seven-goal games. Obviously, this year that’s not happening. We have to win the tighter games. That’s where we’re at. Scoring four goals should be enough for us. We’ve got to tighten up on the defensive side of things.”
Derek Ryan on letting a winnable game slip away…
“Definitely one that we should have had. Going into the third period, we’ve got to be able to lock that down and win that game whether or not we had control. I think they definitely had some control in different moments of the game. Their power play is lethal and I think we probably put them on the power play too much, so they definitely got a lot of momentum off their power play.”
James Hamblin on scoring his first NHL goal…
“I think my initial thoughts are straight to my mom. I’ve had that celebration in the bank for a few years now. I think it was a weight off my shoulders to finally score the first one, and the first thoughts were just straight to her. It’s super special. I know she’s in my heart, she’s on my back, and it’s hard to not get emotional about it but I’m just really fortunate that went in.”
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