Matt Tomkins Get His First Win, Lightning Beat Canadiens

Game in brief: The Lightning rolled into Montreal after getting their pants pulled down against the Leafs only 24 hours earlier, scored four first period goals on Jake Allen, and then held on to win 5-3. 

Here are my thoughts on the game:

1. The Lightning played the exact same game against Montreal that they did against Toronto: they scored four goals in a row in the first period to chase the starting goaltender, and then were largely ineffective on the attack for the rest of the game before potting a fifth goal in the dying minutes of the third. The difference was the quality of the opponent-- the Maple Leafs are a team with game-breaking offensive talents who enjoy nothing more than driving daggers into the Lighting, and they were able to score enough to claw their way to a win, while the rebuilding Canadiens couldn't pull off the comeback. 

2. The Bolts deserve credit for coming out with such a great start, considering they were playing the second game of a back-to-back after what had to be an emotionally draining loss. They scored on the first shift, with Brandon Hagel sending a sick cross-ice pass to Nikita Kucherov, who zapped it home. They rolled through the period, carrying the play and sinking goals from Nick Paul, Alex Barre-Boulet, and Mikey Eyssimont. Kucherov didn't factor into the latter three goals, which was almost a relief-- it's worrisome when your entire offence flows through one player.

3. Montreal pushed back in the second, and while they hardly dominated, they seemed to carry the play for the rest of the game. And while the Lightning can be excused for not completely dominating and overwhelming their opponent from start-to-finish, considering road trip and back-to-back fatigue and the inevitable push-back from a team that got embarrassed in the first period, it does follow the Lightning's disturbing trend of playing gold medal hockey in the first and then house of cards hockey in the second. "Complete game" and "full sixty minutes" are the phrases that will follow theis team all year.

4.The Lightning are making backup goalies look BRILLIANT. For three games in a row the Bolts have caved in their opponent's starter. While both Ottawa goalies suffered largely the same fate on Saturday, both the Toronto and Montreal backups skated onto the ice with no warm-up and played like Glenn Hall Sawchuk Dryden. In Toronto on Monday, Ilya Samsonov made 8 saves on 12 shots for a .667 save percentage before being replaced by Joseph Woll, who was awesome, going 18/19 for .947. In Montreal on Tuesday, Jack Allen managed just 5 saves on 9 shots for a dreadful .556 before making way for Sam Montembeault, who save 22 of 23 for a sparkling .957.

What conclusion can we draw from this? It could be that both Toronto and Montreal's starters were just cold. Or maybe the skaters on both teams got the message and tightened up defensively when the coach yanked the starter. It's also possible that the Lightning eased back on the throttle when they saw how great they were doing. Not consciously, of course. But it's a possibility.

5. The real story of the game of course, was the Lightning's 29-year-old rookie Matt Tomkins finally getting his first NHL win in his third start. Deployed exclusively in the second game of road trip back-to-backs so far this season, Tomkins was finally given some goal support and solid defensive play from his teammates. He stopped 23 of 26 shots (.885), and kept it together during six penalty kills. His performance was tarnished somewhat by Christian Dvorak's shot off the wing with 19 seconds left in the game-- an NHL stopper should make that save. But that's the delight of Tomkins' story: he's not really an NHL goaltender, but a journeyman with a unique career path, who's finally getting the chance of a lifetime to play in The Show due to Andrei Vasilevskiy's back surgery. I'm so very happy for him to get this win. I hope he gets a chance to play in front of a home crowd before his ride comes to an end.

6. This was the best lineup that the Lightning have put on the ice this year. Jon Cooper's decision to play Austin Watson over Mikey Eyssimont on Monday against the Leafs seems ridiculous when comparing what each player brings-- Watson will give you a solid three or four minutes, while Mikey has scored in each of his last two games. Subbing in Zach Bogosian for Nick Perbix was also a solid move. As effective as Perbix was in his rookie year, he seems plagued by hiccups this season, and the occasional scratch might actually benefit him. Tyler Motte, who returned from injury on Monday, brings a lot of energy to the lineup, effectively taking over recently demoted Waltteri Merelä's spot. Merelä was effective in his limited role, but you always got the feeling he was trying to to screw up out there-- it will do him good to spend some time building his confidence in the AHL. 

7. Conor Sheary got hurt early in the game and did not return. As ugly as it is to say, he was not missed. Sheary's performance this season has to be regarded by management as a disappointment. His 1 goal and 2 assists in 13 games flatter him, as he has been a non-factor for the Lightning so far this season. Hopefully he comes roaring back when he returns from this injury.

8. It cannot be overstated how good the Lightning special teams have been this year. 

Overall, this was a good win, especially coming of an emotional loss, and at the tail end of a road trip. If the Lightning can figure out their overtime troubles, they'll be doing much better, but they're not in a bad place, either with the lineup or in the standings. They return to the ice on Saturday to host the Chicago Blackhawks. Until then, adieu.

-Nolan.

Where Nolan Asks Questions and Thinks Thoughts about Losing to the Leafs in Overtime Again

 Background: last night the Lightning, off the back of a Saturday night win in Ottawa, rolled into Toronto and smoked the Maple Leafs for the first period, hanging four goals on Ilya Samsonov and chasing him for Joseph Woll, with Nikita Kucherov scoring two and setting up two more. Proud of a job well done, the Bolts then yawned, wrapped themselves in cozy blankets, and went to sleep for the rest of the game, allowing the Leafs to roar back and eventually win the game 6-5 in overtime.

Here are my thoughts on the game, in no coherent order.

1. Nikita Kucherov is a machine. He looked insane driving play in the first, dancing around defenders and zipping passes all over the place. The Lightning's four consecutive first period goals were all his: he scored two and set up the other two with primary assists. This was a master class. Unfortunately four points per period is unsustainable, and the Leafs were able to cover him the rest of the way, which caused major trouble for the Bolts, since nobody else could get going. Brandon Hagel broke through to force overtime with less than three minutes left, but by that time the Lightning had given the game away.

2. Losing games in which they have lead the Leafs by a 4-1 score is more addictive to the Bolts than super-crack. 

3. Losing in overtime is even more addictive than that.

4. Consider for a moment that the Lightning games have gone past regulation four times, and they're lost in overtime in every single one. They haven't even MADE IT to a shootout. They surrender a goal at 3-on-3 within five minutes every time, never scoring once. Once the puck is dropped in OT, they immediately lose possession, and fans watch the Lightning players spend then next three-odd minutes chasing around before inevitably letting an opposing player have an absolute gift basket of a scoring chance. How are they this bad in OT? Even the San Jose Sharks have made it to a shootout.

5. How can a team be both dominant when up a man (33.3% power play - 2nd in the NHL) and excellent when down a man (87.9% penalty killing - 6th in the NHL) and still be so hopeless when both teams are down two men?

6. Tyler Motte was back from his broken finger-- this was really my first look at him as a Bolt since I remember nothing of his performance in Game One before he got hurt. He looked really good, especially battling deep in the Leafs' end during the penalty kill. As much as I was cheering for Waltteri Merelä to succeed, the Lightning are much better with Motte. 

7. What made NO sense was inserting Motte and scratching Mikey Eyssimont instead of Austin Watson. I understand the urge to keep a fighter like Watson in the lineup. Hockey media was been frothing at the mouth about how soft the Leafs are, so the expectation may have been that the Leafs would try and flip the narrative with some physical play. That wasn't the case at all. Ryan Reaves, who is always happy to make menacing statements in the media but has been dead weight on the ice, was not noticeable, and refused to make eye contact with Tanner Jeannot during their only notable interaction.

With respect to Watson and his role, he had little impact on the game. He played three and a half minutes. The Lightning missed Eyssimont's hustle and grind. Mikey scored against Ottawa and got sat against the Leafs. That's ridiculous. Unless there's an injury we haven't heard about, this was a lineup gaff.

Don't you see the irony? By inserting the enforcer into the lineup, the Lightning became way EASIER to play against.

8. Speaking of the Leafs being soft, they seem to play hard enough against the Lightning when the going gets tough. And the Lightning? They let the consensus softest team in the league tear them up in the second and third period. The Leafs scored EIGHT SECONDS APART TO TAKE THE LEAD. The Lightning had no pushback once the Leafs started pressing.

9. Playing a great first and collapsing in the second has been the Lightning's bugaboo all season. Every night they talk about playing a full sixty minutes. Well, they still haven't figured it out.

In a first intermission interview, Brandon Hagel told Gabby Shirley they would have to keep pressing the Leafs and playing the same way, but that's not the answer. The Lightning need to realize that okay, we've just embarrassed this team. Their coach is probably in the dressing room right now screaming his head off, and these guys are gonna come at us like crazy meth-beavers in the next period, and we'll have to adjust on the fly to whatever they bring. The Lightning seemed to think the second would be exactly the same as the first, and within moments they were on the back foot against a pissed-off opponent. The Leafs grabbed the momentum and it was goodbye to that three-goal lead.

"Playing the same way" is a recipe for failure with this team.

10. A secondary power play assist notwithstanding, Steven Stamkos didn't generate much out there. Conor Sheary was invisible. Tanner Jeannot threw some hits but was on the ice for three Leafs goals. Austin Watson had no impact. Separated from Kucherov, Alex Barré-Boulet was not noticeable.

Only one line was going. Brayden Point, Brandon Hagel, and Nikita Kucherov each played more than 22 minutes. The Lightning are becoming a one line team, or possibly even a one player team: Kucherov.

11. The Lightning have a Leafs problem, but their problems against the Leafs are reflective of the problems in all their losses this season. Inconsistent effort.

* * *

The Bolts are in Montreal tonight to face Martin St. Louis' young squad. Matt Tomkins will probably start, and even if the Bolts are tired on the bottom end of the back-to-back, they'll at least benefit from not facing a team that unquestionably has their number. See you tonight.