Friday, October 21, 2011

Lightning get back on track, defeat Islanders

The Tampa Bay Lightning defeated the New York Islanders 4-1 on Thursday night, the 15 year anniversary of the first hockey game played at the St. Pete Times Forum.

The Lightning were much better at correcting some of the biggest problems leading to their five-game winless streak. While Mathieu Garon played well in net, including a fantastic toe save int the opening minute, he only had to face 17 Islander shots. The Bolts had 30 shots of their own, so they look to be getting closer to Guy Boucher's goal of having the Lightning get 40 shots while holding the opponent to 20.

In addition, the Lightning only took 3 penalties on the night, allowing the players on the pnalty kill unit to get a fair amount of rest. This also contributed to the Bolts' victory in the shots on goal category, as the team was able to play less in their end.

Another day of 4 goals - including Ryan "Bugsy" Malone's 150th career goal - was encouraging. Vinny Lecavalier, Steven Stamkos, and Brett Clark also scored, and Teddy Purcell picked up two assists. There were quite a few more opportunities for goals as well, as at least three or four shots hit the goal post or cross bar.

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