This was an important and gutsy win for the Lightning. Important because it ended their 0-2-1 skid, propelled them back into a second place tie in the division with the Florida Panthers and allowed them to maintain a lead on the hungry teams behind them in the Eastern Conference Standings. Gutsy because they played most of the game with only nine forwards, after they lost Valtteri Filppula and Nikita Kucherov to injuries during the first and second periods.
In their Friday night loss to Philadelphia, the Lightning bemoaned the fact that they had passed up some shots and instead tried to make “cute” plays – plays that ultimately didn’t even result in a shot.