The Bolts score early and often in Thursday's rout of Utah
Goals, goals, goals.
They came from all over the ice in all three periods for the Tampa Bay Lightning on Thursday as Tampa Bay stormed to an 8-0 victory over Utah Hockey Club.
The Lightning scored twice in the first 4 minutes, 20 seconds of the game before adding four more scores in the second period and two more goals in period three.
Nikita Kucherov led the Lightning with a goal and three assists, while defenseman Victor Hedman had a goal and two helpers. Ryan McDonagh finished with two assists in his 1,000th NHL game.
Goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy made 25 saves for the shutout victory.
The Lightning are now 42-25-5 this season and close a three-game homestand on Saturday when the New York Islanders visit for a 2 p.m. matinee.
Scoring summary
First period
TBL 1, UTA 0
1:30 Jake Guentzel (35) – Nikita Kucherov, Ryan McDonagh
Tampa Bay flew to a 1-0 lead 90 seconds in on Thursday when Jake Guentzel found a rebound and scored near the left goalpost.
TBL 2, UTA 0
4:20 Victor Hedman (13) – JJ Moser, Brandon Hagel
Captain Victor Hedman made it 2-0 on Tampa Bay’s fourth shot of the game. Hedman took a pass from JJ Moser and scored on his shot from the left faceoff dot.
Shots on goal: TBL 7, UTA 5
Second period
TBL 3, UTA 0
5:05 Gage Goncalves (3) – Emil Lilleberg, Yanni Gourde
The Lightning pushed their lead to three goals on a netfront deflection by rookie Gage Goncalves following an Emil Lilleberg shot from the left point.
TBL 4, UTA 0
9:14 Kucherov (32) – Brayden Point, Darren Raddysh
Nikita Kucherov’s backhand shot midway through period two gave the Lightning a 4-0 advantage.
TBL 5, UTA 0
17:54 Guentzel (36) – Kucherov, Hedman – PP
Guentzel’s second goal of the game came on the power play after he skated to the front of the net from the right side and scored on a shot to the far post.
TBL 6, UTA 0
19:36 Oliver Bjorkstrand (18) – Gourde, McDonagh
Tampa Bay rounded out another successful period with a one-timer goal from the slot by Oliver Bjorkstrand.
Shots on goal: TBL 10, UTA 8
Third period
TBL 7, UTA 0
8:59 Point (36) – Kucherov, Hedman
Point scored his 36th goal of the season by batting a rebound out of mid-air near the net after Kucherov’s initial shot hit the right post.
TBL 8, UTA 0
14:54 Bjorkstrand (19) – Nick Perbix
Bjorkstrand’s first multi-goal game with the Lightning came via a wrist shot from distance with five minutes left in the game.
Total shots: UTA 25, TBL 21
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