Lightning Fall To Golden Knights After Big Early Deficit

The Tampa Bay Lightning (40-25-5, 3rd in Atlantic) fell into a three-goal hole in the first period Sunday night to the Vegas Golden Knights (42-20-8, 1st in Pacific). The Lightning fought their way back into the game, but the deficit proved too deep to overcome as they fell 4-2.

A Hot Start

Getting out of the gates strong was critical for Vegas in this game. After a flurry of chances both ways in the first 10 minutes, Golden Knights center Nicolas Roy potted his 11th goal of the season on a power play to open the scoring. With Gage Goncalves in the box for cross checking, Roy parked himself in front of the net, where teammate William Karlsson found him for the easy finish.

Just over two minutes later, Vegas center Tomas Hertl converted on a shot from the high slot, beating Lightning goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy blocker-side. Hertl scored a hat trick in the Golden Knights’ Saturday matchup with Detroit and now has eight goals in March.

In the waning moments of the first period, just after another Vegas power play expired, defenseman Zach Whitecloud corralled a clearance attempt by Vasilevskiy at the blue line and quickly fed it over to center Jack Eichel, who buried his 23rd goal of the season on a one-timer.

After the first period horn sounded, the Lightning were down 3-0 and they would never take the lead.

Strong Showing From Samsonov

Vegas goalie Ilya Samsonov had one of his best games of the season, stymieing the second-highest scoring offense in the league. Samsonov had recorded a save percentage north of .900 only once in his last seven games, but he stopped 35 of 37 Tampa shots, good for a .946 save percentage.

A 13-save first period was especially critical to the Vegas win, as had to fend off several high-danger chances.

Too Little, Too Late

Lightning left winger Nick Paul finally solved the Samsonov problem with just over two minutes left in the second period. On the 24th Tampa shot of the game, Paul tucked a wrist shot just over Samsonov’s blocker on a two-on-one break to give the Lightning some life. The score was set up thanks to a deft tip pass in the neutral zone from Goncalves.

After no more headway was made into the Vegas lead throughout the third, Tampa pulled Vasilevskiy for an extra attacker with a few minutes left on clock. However, a defensive zone faceoff win from the Golden Knights set up defenseman Nic Hague for an empty netter that travelled almost the whole length of the ice.

The Lightning pulled Vasilevskiy again after the goal, and this time they found the back of the net. Playing six-on-four after a Vegas penalty, star right winger Nikita Kucherov scored his 31st goal of the season. Unfortunately for Tampa, there were only four seconds on the clock when Kucherov found the back of the net and 4-2 would be the final score.

The Lightning now return to Amalie Arena for a three-game homestand, which starts with a showdown with Pittsburgh Tuesday night.