There’s no team the Lightning have seen more in the season’s first four weeks than the Predators. They know Nashville’s game plan is to try to use their physicality to take away Tampa Bay’s skill.
The Lightning haven’t backed down, and Tuesday’s game in Nashville — the teams’ fourth meeting in 11 days — was full of penalties. The problem with that is the more penalties the Predators took, the more they put the Lightning’s power-play unit on the ice.
And while the Lightning power play is still finding its identity without Nikita Kucherov, it has been solid against Nashville this season. On Tuesday, Tampa Bay’s play with a man advantage played a big role in its three-goal first period.
The result was a 6-1 win at Bridgestone Arena. It was the Lightning’s sixth straight victory, the longest winning streak in the NHL this season. Four of their nine wins have come against the Predators, and they’ve outscored Nashville 19-7 in the four games.
The Lightning (9-1-1) won both games in their first set of back-to-back nights.
The Lightning were 3-for-5 on the power play Monday. Seven of the Lightning’s 10 power-play goals over their first 10 games have come against the Predators.
Steven Stamkos scored two goals, one on a power play and another just seconds after a power play ended. Mathieu Joseph also scored two for the Lightning.
After falling behind 1-0 on Rocco Grimaldi’s goal 4:43 into the game, the Lightning scored three in the first period.
Stamkos put the Lightning on the board with 8:32 left in the period, cleaning up a loose puck on the left side of the net just as a power play was ending.
On the play, Mikhail Sergachev put a shot on net that Nashville goaltender Juuse Saros stopped. Saros dove to stop putback attempts by Brayden Point in front of the crease, but the puck bounced out to Stamkos, who had an open left side and his team-high sixth goal of the season.
The Lightning then peppered Saros on their next power play. Stamkos got the puck on his stick in traffic and made a nice pass to Ondrej Palat, who rifled a one-timer from the right circle past Saros.
Tampa Bay’s third goal, an even-strength score, was created when Sergachev made a nifty pass across the slot between two Nashville defenders to a streaking Mathieu Joseph, who buried a one-timer through the low slot and past Saros.
The Lightning won a challenge that took Colton Sissons’ goal off the board with 3:37 left in the second period. Sissons got behind the Lightning defense on a bad line change, but video review showed Sissons was just offsides before he scored, keeping it a two-goal game going into the third period.
Yanni Gourde provided a three-goal cushion with an even-strength goal with 6:40 left in the game. Gourde won a faceoff in the offensive zone, then raced to the goal and cleaned up a loose puck with a backhanded putback, his fourth goal of the season.
Goals by Stamkos and Joseph in the final six minutes finished off the scoring.
