TAMPA, Fla. — As well as the Lightning have played in the first half of the season, they’re still waiting to put together a full 60 minutes to be proud of. And Saturday night, the Lightning withstood a third-period charge from the Predators at Amalie Arena.
A three-goal lead heading into the second intermission quickly turned into a one-score edge, taking the newly-returning crowd of 3,800 out of the game. But Blake Coleman’s score with 9:58 remaining provided the Lightning with the momentum swing needed to help seal a 6-3 win over Nashville. Ryan McDonagh’s empty-netter late provided the final margin.
The newly-assembled Lightning third line of Barclay Goodrow, Tyler Johnson and Coleman continued to show cohesion despite having not played together before last week, when coach Jon Cooper shuffled his lines and centered Johnson between Goodrow and Coleman.
After Nashville cut the lead to one on goals in the first 5:03 of the third, including one that came on a hard carom off the end boards that gifted Erik Haula the puck in front of the net, the Lightning had to grab momentum.
The Johnson line made a game-sealing play, as Goodrow slowed the rush, curled back to the top of the right circle and found Coleman trailing through the slot, where Coleman unloaded a back-handed shot past Nashville goaltender Pekka Rinne while Johnson opened the view in front of the net.
Though the crowd was limited to socially-distanced small pods, the Lightning still could feel an energy that had been absent at home all season, and the few fans in the building certainly were energized being back in the building and seeing the team raise its Stanley Cup banner.
The timing was right with the Lightning (19-5-2) coming off their longest road trip of the season, ending with a deflating loss in Detroit, and also approaching a stretch of five games in seven days.
The Lightning gave the crowd something to cheer about early when Erik Cernak jumped into the rush, took a pass from Coleman at the blue line and made a nice cross-crease pass to Tyler Johnson, who managed to flick the puck into the net after sliding to ground past Rinne 6:55 into the game.
Cernak then corralled the puck off a faceoff win and spun around to find Mathieu Joseph for a one-timer above the right circle to give the Lightning a two-goal lead with 1:25 left in the first period.
His two-point night gave Cernak five points in his past five games.
Alex Killorn put the Lightning up 3-0 on the power play, redirecting a pass from Ondrej Palat to his stick blade just inside the crease, giving Killorn his fourth goal in his past six games, including two on the power play.
After Nashville cut the lead to two on Yakov Trenin’s goal with 8:58 left in the second period, Brayden Point scored his 10th goal of the season, speeding across the ice before unleashing a wrister at the top of the right circle with 1:12 left in the period.
