It wasn’t just the key names on the big contracts who came through for the Tampa Bay Lighting in their season-opening victory Thursday night.
It was Jonathan Drouin, who seems intent on taking up where he left off in last year’s playoffs.
It was Brian Boyle, who seems to score only big goals.
It was the power-play, which was 28th in the league a year ago, that find the net three times in the Lightning’s 6-4 comeback victory over the Detroit Red Wings. The Lightning, which has outsted the Wings in the last two playoffs, started slow, trailing 2-0 in the first period. But by the end of the night, the Bolts had a comeback win.
“We kind of gave them both goals,” coach Jon Cooper said of the early deficit. “We put the first one in the net for them, and the second one scored on a turnover by Nestie (Nikita Nesterov). But one of the staples of our team where we’ve grown is the calm on the bench. You’ve seen in before.”
The momentum seemed to build in the second period for the Bolts when Droughin and Cedric Paquette scored. In the third period, Boyle, Tyler Johnson, Alex Killorn and Valtteri Filppula scored.
“We were down 2-0,” said Johnson, “but I thought we had most of the chances. We’ve been down before, and we’ve come back before.”
The Lightning is home against the New Jersey Devils Saturday night.
