On a night in the NHL of squandered leads, the Lightning were one of the teams to lose a lead and a game. IN their home opener in Tampa, the Bolts took a second period, 2-0, lead over the Philadelphia Flyers on two goals from Steven Stamkos.
“This is a stinger, we should never leave this game with zero points,” Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper said. “We probably should have left with two. It happens in this game. It happens when you play 82 games. Unfortunately, it’s happening to us a lot early in this season, but this group should close that game out.”
Both of Stamkos’ goals were off the power play.
“I think we just lacked some urgency,” Stamkos said. “We can’t take for granted that what we’ve done in the past with leads, especially on home ice, that everyone can fall back and it will be ok. It’s got to be urgent hockey. We have to make safe, sound plays. We definitely made some uncharacteristic plays in that regard.”
The Flyers rallied back with three unanswered goals for a 3-2 win.
Carter Hart made 36 saves for the third Flyers win of the season.
“We’re just trying to get a win, it doesn’t matter who we’re playing or who’s in the opposing goal,” Hart said. “My job is to stop the puck and our job as a team is to win hockey games. This was a big win for us tonight.”
Noah Cates scored the game-winner in the third period.
“I thought we had a good shift before that, so I knew their [defense] was a little bit tired,” Cates said. “I think they were just kind of flapping in front of their net and I was coming in pretty hard. I got a stick on it, found it, and swung around and shot it.”
Scott Laughton started the rally with a goal in the middel frame to make it 2-1 headed to the third period.
“We worked hard and found a way to win,” Laughton said. “It definitely feels good. It’s a tough building to play in, but we found our legs. Sometimes it’s going to be ugly.”
James van Riemsdyk hit for a power play goal early in the third period for a 2-2 tie.
“Playing the key minutes at key times, that’s what wins you games,” Flyers coach John Tortorella said. “And you need to have really good goaltending. Carter was outstanding. He kept us in it, and we found a way at the end.”
Andrei Vasilevskiy made 21 saves in the Tampa loss.
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