The Tampa Bay Lightning beat the Edmonton Oilers 5-3 on Wednesday night. The Lightning now sit at 33-11-6, heading into the backstretch of the season. Meanwhile, Edmonton is fighting for a wild card spot in the West but a loss does them no good.
Game Recap
The game began slow, but in the second half of the first period, the game began to heat up. Pat Maroon scored 11:57 into the first to open the game with a Lightning goal. Towards the end of the period, Steven Stamkos received an interference call on Connor McDavid. McDavid made Stamkos pay as he scored 17 seconds into the power play to tie the game. Stamkos would not let the game go to intermission tied, as he scored with 15 seconds left. The first period ended with a 9-5 Oilers shot lead, but a 2-1 Lightning lead.
Tampa Bay scored the first goal in the second period, with a Brayden Point tally 10:48 in. Leading 3-1, Tampa Bay went on the power play on a Ryan Nugent-Hopkins penalty. They could not convert but they got another man advantage eight seconds following the prior’s expiration. On the second power play, Corey Perry scored his 400th career goal. He is the 103rd player in NHL history to score 400 goals, and the 9th active player to do so. Before the end of the period, Zach Hyman cut the Bolts lead to two with an Oilers goal.
To begin the third period, Tampa Bay went on the power play due to a Kailer Yamamoto delay of game penalty. A minute later, Victor Hedman was in the box for holding. Evander Kane then tripped Ross Colton, giving Edmonton a brief unusual 4-on-3 advantage. No goals were scored during this string of special teams time. Later, Connor McDavid scored goal No. 28 on the season, to make the game 4-3. The Oilers could not tie it up, as Kucherov added an empty net insurance goal. The Lightning escaped this primetime game with a 5-3 win.
FL Teams Star of the Game
Despite only playing 12:04 in the game, Corey Perry was able to generate a goal and an assist. Corey Perry’s goal was also his milestone 400th goal of his career making him our star of the game.
Up Next
On Saturday, the Lightning will play the Nashville Predators in the Stadium Series. The game will be held at Nissan Stadium, home of the NFL’s Tennessee Titans. Puck drop is scheduled for 7:30 PM EST.
(Featured image by Mike Carlson/Getty Images)