Deadspin | Lightning seek encore to offensive explosion vs. Capitals Trending Global News

The Tampa Bay Lightning suddenly found their groove Monday night against the Colorado Avalanche and will look to maintain the aggression when they host the Washington Capitals on Wednesday night.

Lightning coach Jon Cooper has been openly critical of his team’s overpassing and highlight-reel setup in two winless games (0-1-1), but he certainly had no problem Monday when the puck bounced past Brandon Hagel. Made my way onto the stick.

Known more for his speed and scoring, Hagel set a franchise record with four assists in the first period – tying an NHL record for that total in the opening frame – in his club’s 8–2 loss to the Avalanche.

He then added a fifth assist on the only goal of the second, a snipe by Brayden Point for his team’s seventh on the power play.

The five assists for a game matched the franchise mark of Mark Recchi, Martin St. Louis and teammate Darren Raddish.

And the best compliment of them all?

“I think (Nikita Kucherov) asked after the first period if I was Bobby Orr, and I’m far from it. But I’ll take it,” Hagel said of his high in goals scored this year by an Atlantic Division team. Said after equalizing the points. ,

Overall, it was a great performance from Tampa Bay, which had gone 4-1-1 in its last six games but had faltered recently.

Nick Purbix, Jake Guentzel and Kucherov all scored in the first 10:03 of the game, chasing starting goaltender Justus Anunen as the Colorado crease became a netminding turnstile. Alexander Georgiev was allowed three more, before the coaching staff decided he needed to rest. Anunen then came back and scored third period goals to Guentzel and Michael Issimont.

The Lightning were without Nick Paul for the third consecutive game. Cooper said at the morning skate that the club would be without a productive forward for the rest of the week.

In South Florida, the Washington Capitals showed they can actually win the game even without leading scorer Alex Ovechkin (broken foot).

Goaltender Logan Thompson had a stellar performance in net with 20 saves to make it 9-1-1, while Lars Eller scored twice and Jacob Chykrun had a goal and two assists as Washington defeated the Florida Panthers in seven games. Gave sixth defeat by 4-1. Sunrise.

Washington controlled the game for most of the night, as it cornered the defending Stanley Cup champions in their own end by staying a step ahead and constantly having the puck, while maintaining constant pressure on Florida goaltender Spencer Knight.

Chirkrun, a native of Boca Raton, just 30 minutes north of Panthers territory, ultimately paid off with a game-winner in the third period on a power-play goal that impressed Washington coach Spencer Carberry.

“I thought the third period was our best period so far, starting with the power play and we got the lead there,” Carberry said. “We completely shut it down and ran most of the game in the third.

“I was really proud of that third period. That’s what it looks like.”

It was the first win for Washington in three tries in Ovechkin’s absence from the lineup. Wednesday is the second of six away contests in the Caps’ eight-game span.

–Field Level Media