Once again, life is conspiring to take away time and space, so I won’t have an opportunity to do my standard game recap. Instead, I’m tossing out some loose leaf impressions of our scintillating 4-3 victory over Tampa Bay on Thursday night.
- First off, my word what an entertaining game! Jam-packed with end-to-end action and riveting intensity, much like a Game 7 of a playoff series.
- Tristan Jarry (37 saves) had himself a GAME. He was simply magnificent. Honestly, Tampa Bay could’ve scored at least 7 or 8 goals with all the glorious chances they had.
- Along those lines, the Lightning are incredibly impressive. Ultra-quick on the transition, they went through our watery team defense like a knife through hot butter. And they did it without several front-line players, including Victor Hedman, Brayden Point, Ryan McDonagh and Erik Cernak.
- Nikita Kucherov doesn’t get the ink some other high-profile megastars receive, but my goodness what a force. He isn’t a three-time Art Ross Trophy winner for no reason.
- The Penguins were spirited and energetic but oh-so-sloppy. Undisciplined to boot, handing the Bolts six power plays. None of the penalties more egregious than the ones taken by Kris Letang and Evgeni Malkin in the third period.
- Geno more than made amends, scoring the last two black-and-gold goals, including the game winner with 2:43 left in the third period. Tanger? Not so much, although he did set up Ville Koivunen’s first NHL goal.
- Our league-best power-play scored twice in four tries, with Koivunen and fellow rookie Ben Kindel doing the honors. Embracing a bend-but-don’t-break approach, our fourth-ranked PK only yielded one. Blake Lizotte was once again terrific in a short-handed role.
- Tommy Novak registered two assists. He has five points (1+4) in his past four games.
- Anthony Mantha picked up an assist in his second-straight game.
- The “Kid Line” of Kindel centering for Koivunen and Rutger McGroarty combined for eight shots on goal, five by Ben.
- Sidney Crosby had a quiet night, at least as far as the score sheet was concerned (no points). However, he played with a chip on his shoulder, especially after tangling with J.J. Moser.
- Brandon Hagel scored two goals for the Bolts. Jake Guentzel picked up an assist against his ex-mates and was surprisingly feisty to boot.
- Boko Imama dropped the gloves with towering Tampa Bay rookie Curtis Douglas at 2:36 of the first period and scored a unanimous decision against his much taller foe, dislodging the rookie’s helmet with a stiff right before hammering him to the ice.
In the immortal words of Porky Pig, “T-h-h-at’s all, folks!”