TAMPA, Fla. — No championships were won Thursday night at Amalie Arena. No team paraded around the ice hoisting the Stanley Cup.
But the Lightning’s first game against the Colorado Avalanche since last season’s decisive Game 6 of the Cup final still was significant in many ways.
Both teams downplayed the meeting — they will see each other again Tuesday in Denver — but there’s no doubt that seeing that many of the faces that celebrated with the Cup on their home ice back in June brought back some emotions for the Lightning.
For Tampa Bay, which entered the night having lost back-to-back games coming out of the All-Star break, the game was more about getting back to their winning form than beating any specific opponent. But it was more than just one of 82 regular-season games, too.
Even without injured center Nick Paul, forcing them to play with 11 forwards and seven defensemen, the Lightning gave what might have been their best all-around performance of the season, beating the Avalanche 5-0. They still have not lost three games in a row this season and set a franchise record with their 14th straight home game with at least and point.
Brandon Hagel’s second-period goal, which gave the Lightning a 2-0 lead less than midway through the period, showed how much Tampa Bay wanted this game.
After helping to break up a 2-on-1 in the Lightning’s own end, Hagel — who logged a three-point night — received the puck and pushed through the neutral zone, falling to one knee while fighting off Mikko Rantanen’s backcheck. Anthony Cirelli, flying into the offensive zone down the left wing, outskated two Colorado skaters to the puck and gave it back to Hagel, who beat Avs goalie Alexander Georgiev with a one-timer back post.
The Lightning (33-16-2, 68 points) scored a pair of power-play goals, including Corey Perry’s nifty tuck move in front that beat Georgiev with 4:45 left in the first period to open the scoring. Tampa Bay had entered the night 1-for-10 over their past three games, including 1-for-6 in Tuesday’s overtime loss to Vancouver.
Tampa Bay goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped all 30 shots he faced. He kept the Avalanche (27-19-4, 58 points) scoreless with a pair of glove saves, first stopping JT Compher’s open shot from in front of the net in the first period, then snagging Matt Nieto’s breakaway wrister in the second period.
Brayden Point’s power-play goal in the second period gave him his team-high 32nd goal of the season and points in 14 of his last 15 home games. The Lightning improved to 21-4-1 at Amalie Arena with their 13th win in their last 14 games on home ice. Point’s goal, which put Tampa Bay up 3-0, was upheld following a Colorado challenge arguing a hand pass on the play.
Hagel set up Point’s goal by winning a puck battle against the corner boards, then set up his own second goal, taking the puck away from Rantanen at the Colorado blue line. Alex Killorn gathered the loose puck and dropped a pass to a trailing Hagel, who beat Georgiev on his blocker side for his 21st goal of the season to cap a three-goal second period for the Lightning.
Mikhail Sergachev’s shot from the point found the back of the net through traffic to give Tampa Bay a 5-0 lead at 5:44 into the third period.
