TAMPA, Fla. — It didn’t take long for the Lightning to get fired up Friday night at Amalie Arena.
Just two minutes into their contest against the Blues, Lightning forward Pat Maroon rushed into the corner to engage Blues defenseman Niko Mikkola after Mikkola checked Lightning forward Rudolfs Balcers into the boards, knocking him out of the game with an upper-body injury.
Moments later, all five Lightning skaters jumped into the corner to go after Blues defenseman Robert Bortuzzo after he collided with goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy.
But it was how the Lightning turned that intensity into offense that was most impressive, running out to a quick three-goal lead in the 5-2 win, giving Tampa Bay its fifth victory in the last six games. It was also the third time in four games that the Lightning have held their opponent to two goals or fewer.
The Lightning scored three goals in the first nine minutes, including two from top-line center Brayden Point. They started off with a pair of goals scored just 28 seconds apart in the first four minutes.
Point, who entered the night without a goal in his past seven games and just two goals in his last 13, scored the first one of the night 3:29 into the opening period, a group effort by the Lightning’s top line.
Brandon Hagel came crashing in on the forecheck and forced a St. Louis turnover. Nikita Kucherov took the puck off the wall and pushed it toward the front of the net, where it hit off Hagel’s skate and to Point, who took a backhanded shot that beat Blues goaltender Jordan Binnington on his blocker side.
On the following shift, Nick Paul forced a turnover in the Blues zone, skated toward the net, and while sliding on his knees fed Alex Killorn near the right hash for a one-timer that beat Binnington and gave Tampa Bay a 2-0 lead.
Point scored again at the 8:04 mark in the period, finding a soft spot between the hashmarks where Kucherov fed him for an open snap shot that went top shelf.
The Blues took advantage of an interference penalty on Victor Hedman with 1:50 left in the period on Pavel Buchnevich’s power-play goal.
Jordan Kyrou’s goal 6:24 into the second period cut the lead to one and silenced Amalie Arena before Hagel scored 18 seconds later to restore order.
Hagel’s goal was again set up by Kucherov, who took Point’s wide shot on the rush off the wall and fed Hagel in the slot for an open look.
Vasilevskiy withstood a second-period St. Louis surge, including a remarkable pad save that stopped Blues center Brayden Schenn on a breakaway.
At the 7:14 mark of the second, as Schenn sped toward the front of the goal, Vasilevskiy missed a poke check but recovered as Schenn went to his backhand, kicking out his left pad to close off the post.
Paul’s empty-netter with less than four minutes to play rounded out scoring.
