{"id":440205,"date":"2024-04-24T15:15:45","date_gmt":"2024-04-24T19:15:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/?p=440205"},"modified":"2024-04-24T13:36:33","modified_gmt":"2024-04-24T17:36:33","slug":"tampa-bay-lightning-game-two-of-their-playoff-series-standout-performances","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2024\/04\/24\/tampa-bay-lightning-game-two-of-their-playoff-series-standout-performances\/","title":{"rendered":"Tampa Bay Lightning Game Two Of Their Playoff Series Standout Performances"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">A few\u00a0<\/span><a class=\"editor-rtfLink\" href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/category\/lightning\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Tampa Bay Lightning<\/span><\/a><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u00a0players stepped up yesterday in game two. However, the Lightning fell to the\u00a0<\/span><a class=\"editor-rtfLink\" href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/category\/panthers\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Florida Panthers<\/span><\/a><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u00a0by a score of 3-2 in overtime to continue their 2024 NHL Stanley Cup Playoff run. Today, we will look at three standout players from the previous game for the Bolts. Minimal players stood out in an underwhelming effort for the Bolts.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Three Standout Performers for the Tampa Bay Lightning in Game One<\/span><\/h2>\n<h3><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/v\/vasilan02.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-04-24_hr\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Andrei Vasilevskiy<\/a> (G)<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Andrei Vasilevskiy was head and shoulders the first star for the Lightning. The team left him out to dry, allowing the Panthers to dominate at even strength. Vasilevskiy deserved a better result for his effort in game two. Goaltending was the X-Factor for the Lightning heading into the series, and Vasilevskiy gave the Bolts his best. The &#8220;Big Cat&#8221; posted a 1.82 goals saved above expected (GSAx) in game two. We saw vintage Vasilevskiy in goal for the Lightning last night, as he stopped 34 of 37 shots he faced for a .919 save percentage. The Russian netminder must continue his elite play if the Lightning plan to pull off a comeback against the Panthers.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/p\/pointbr01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-04-24_hr\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Brayden Point<\/a> (C)<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">The Lightning top line found themselves on the scoresheet at even strength in game two. Brayden Point tallied a goal in front of the net to spark the comeback to force overtime in game two. Moreover, Point registered two high-danger shot attempts of his own. The Canadian forward was one of two Lightning players to finish above 50% in their on-ice expected goal share. Point ranked second on the team, controlling 50.54% of the expected goal share at 5v5 (50.54 xGF%). Tampa Bay must lean on their superstars to make a comeback against a dangerous Florida team. Point and his linemate <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/k\/kucheni01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-04-24_hr\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Nikita Kucherov<\/a> must fill the net in game three if the Lightning plan to stand a chance.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/r\/raddyda01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-04-24_hr\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Darren Raddysh<\/a> (D)<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Darren Raddysh continues to fly under the radar amongst Lightning fans this season. Head Coach Jon Cooper found a gem in Raddysh, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/h\/hedmavi01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-04-24_hr\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Victor Hedman<\/a>&#8216;s new defence partner on the top pairing. In addition, Raddysh signed for the next two seasons at $975,000 per year, a steal of a contract for a cap-strapped team in Tampa Bay. Raddysh dominated the quality of scoring chances when on the ice in game two. He led the Lightning in on-ice expected goal share, controlling 52.47% of the expected goals (xGF%) via Natural Stat Trick. After a mediocre game, Hedman and Raddysh rebounded with a solid performance in game two. We anticipate the top pairing for the Bolts to keep Florida off the scoresheet at even strength.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Reflection and Game Three Preview<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Outside the top line on offence and defence, the Lightning failed to grab at least one win in Sunrise. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/c\/crozima01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-04-24_hr\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Maxwell Crozier<\/a> played solid in his National Hockey League playoff debut, but does Tampa Bay have what it takes to come back in a series against a deep Panthers roster? Luckily, the Bolts head back to Amalie Arena for two home games to try to even up the series. The Lightning have a fantastic record on home ice, so we anticipate they will take advantage with the fans behind them.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Game one of this series saw the Lightning sustain solid pressure against a dominant Panthers roster. In game two, we saw an improvement in transition for the Bolts, but this improvement cost them offensive zone time. The best power play in the league notched one goal on six attempts in game two, so there may need to be adjustments on special teams. Furthermore,\u00a0the Lightning must find a way to solve <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/b\/bobrose01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-04-24_hr\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Sergei Bobrovsky<\/a>, a brick wall in the net for the Panthers. Tampa Bay must reset and get back to work at practice before Thursday&#8217;s showdown.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><em><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Raw stats via\u00a0<\/span><a class=\"editor-rtfLink\" href=\"https:\/\/www.naturalstattrick.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">NaturalStatTrick<\/span><\/a><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u00a0and\u00a0<\/span><a class=\"editor-rtfLink\" href=\"https:\/\/moneypuck.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">MoneyPuck<\/span><\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<p>Main photo: Nathan Ray Seebeck-USA TODAY Sports<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A few\u00a0Tampa Bay Lightning\u00a0players stepped up yesterday in game two. However, the Lightning fell to the\u00a0Florida Panthers\u00a0by a score of 3-2 in overtime to continue their 2024 NHL Stanley Cup Playoff run. Today, we will look at three standout players from the previous game for the Bolts. Minimal players stood out in an underwhelming effort [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3765,"featured_media":432418,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9,2,4547,4548],"tags":[809,2540,7817,42],"class_list":["post-440205","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lightning","category-featured","category-hockey","category-nhl","tag-andrei-vasilevskiy","tag-brayden-point","tag-darren-raddysh","tag-tampa-bay-lightning"],"modified_by":"Levi Pike, Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/440205","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3765"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=440205"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/440205\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/432418"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=440205"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=440205"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=440205"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}