The Backcheck: Paul’s debut goal followed by scorpion save, Guentzel OT winner as Bolts beat Oilers Thursday
“I think those are the moments that we all live for,” Lightning defenseman JJ Moser said of the play leading to the winner. “And that’s what makes sports so great, because you really can’t make this up, not even if you would try to make a movie.
“He makes an unbelievable kick-save in a position where you think, ‘Oh, this might be it.’ And then two seconds later we go up the ice and score the game-winner. And then the crowd goes crazy, the atmosphere is electric. So that’s why we all love it.“
The Lightning improved their record to 11-7-2 with the win, one that was helped by a proper response to a slow start.
Edmonton took advantage of a Lightning turnover for the game-opening goal just over 90 seconds after the opening puck drop. Oilers forward Leon Draisaitl intercepted a pass in the Lightning defensive zone to create a 2-on-1 and passed to Trent Frederic at the right hashmark.
Frederic’s shot found the back of the net 1 minute, 32 seconds into the game for a 1-0 lead.
Passes weren’t connecting for Tampa Bay in the first period, but the Lightning stuck with the process—down 1-0 through 20 minutes on Thursday, the Lightning pushed back on offense and outshot Edmonton 25-11 over the final two periods of regulation.
Moser alluded to a movie script ending, and it was helped by Nick Paul’s season debut after missing the first 19 games due to offseason surgery.
It was Paul who tied the game with only 2:32 left in regulation after a dish from Moser. Paul accepted the puck at the blue line, drove into the right faceoff circle on the backhand before moving the puck to his forehand and ripping a snap shot into the top right corner of the Edmonton net.
“Sometimes bounces in hockey can go any way, so I wasn’t focused on really scoring or trying to be offensively producing tonight,” Paul said of his return postgame. “My job was just to be a hard player out there, making good plays, getting in front, retrieving pucks and building into that. And to get one on top of that is huge. In a game like that the adrenaline gets going, you just start feeling it, and it happens to go in. So it was good to get one.”
Vasilevskiy’s save on Roslovic came 1:35 into overtime. Kucherov exited the defensive zone with the puck before passing to Darren Raddysh in the neutral zone.
Raddysh slipped the puck to a crashing Guentzel, whose shot from the bottom of the left faceoff circle beat Pickard through the legs for his team-high 12th goal of the year.
Paul said he was lightheaded after Vasilevskiy’s denial on Roslovic because he jumped so high in the air to celebrate on the Tampa Bay bench that he nearly didn’t see the game-winning goal.
It was a crazy sequence for everyone on the Bolts bench, one that ended with the team’s NHL-leading 10th victory over its last 13 games. That includes coach Jon Cooper, who said it was so chaotic that it felt as though he was watching in slow motion.
