Tampa Bay Lightning strikes down hard on Philadelphia Flyers 5-1 -NHL Update
Ilya Bryzgalov faced only 16 shots throughout the 60-minute contest, but instead of shutting Tampa Bay out, he fell short on five as the Lightning struck down hard on the Philadelphia Flyers, 5-1, on Wednesday night, December 27, 2011, at the St. Pete Times Forum in Tampa, Florida, United States.
The veteran goalie, acquired over the 2011 National Hockey League (NHL) offseason, has had some good times in the season so far but equally as many disappointing performances as well. He will have to find his game sooner than later as Philadelphia continues to plummet from their once held top spot in the Eastern Conference to now sitting at number four with 46 points, tied with Pittsburgh Penguins.
Bruno Gervais added Tampa Bay’s first of the night nearly midway through the opening period followed by veteran Philadelphia player, Scott Hartnell, with his 17th of the season with less than two minutes remaining to keep the score tied entering the mid period.
The Lightning came out strong and determined by scoring three straight as Steven Stamkos potted two, one before Steve Downie’s fifth season goal and another at the 18:45 mark on the power play for his 22nd of the season.
"It probably wasn't the prettiest game out there, but we'll take the win and hopefully this starts something good", Stamkos said.
Captain, Vincent Lecavalier, took the match way out of hand by scoring the fifth and final goal of the night at the 19:00 mark in the third period to signal that the game had already ended before the final buzzer even sounded.
"Sometimes, as a goalie, you have to make one key save a game", Tampa Bay goalie, Mathieu Garon, said of Hartnell's chance.
The Philadelphia performance even had Jaromir Jagr frustrated.
"What's frustrating is we didn't score goals on our chances", Jagr said. "It looked like nothing went our way. Two weeks ago, everything went our way. That's the business".
Tampa Bay has two more remaining at home before they take off on another three-game road trip. The Lightning face Montreal Canadiens on Thursday, while Philadelphia Flyers have the next against their state rivals, Pittsburgh Penguins, the same day.
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