So much for establishing some sort of consistency or rhythm for the Tampa Bay Lightning Thursday night in their road matchup against the New York Islanders. Tampa Bay surrendered four 1st period goals in the first 20 minutes of action.
John Tavares got the scoring started before fans could even make themselves comfortable, putting a wrist shot in the net past Dwayne Robinson a mere 38 seconds into the game. Tavares would add his second goal of the period roughly minutes later to extend the lead to 3-1. Prior to Tavares’ second goal of the young season, Tampa Bay leveled the score at 1-1 when Marc-Andre Bergeron put an unassisted shot past Al Montoya for his first goal of the season. The Lightning then struck at the 9:28 second mark when Matt Moulson scored on a goal that Tavares assisted on. Three points in the first period for Tavares — impressive.
We’ll see how much longer Robinson remains in net. He’s allowed four of the 11 shots he’s faced to get by him, though in his defense, the guys skating in front of him have not been much assistance.
Stay tuned for more updates throughout the game as the Lightning try to avoid a 1-2 start on the road in New York. They’ll have to overcome a three-goal deficit to avoid that fate.