By: John Mamola
It was great night for a Sunday evening matinee as the Tampa Bay Lightning win their third straight contest 5-1 over the Philadelphia Flyers. The Bolts catching the Flyers on the second night of a Philly back-to-back scoring five unanswered goals as the Bolts offense continues to be red hot.
The game did not start off well for Anders Lindback who was making his second straight start after his 32 save performance against Ottawa on Friday night. It took less than a minute into the game for the Flyers to get on the board. Flyers center Sean Couturier wristed one deep in the corner past Lindback and the post sneaking in for a 1-0 Philly lead.
That was all the scoring the Flyers, who put up seven goals against Florida on Saturday night, would get past the Lightning net minder.
The Bolts offense would take over near the end on backup Flyers goaltender Michael Leighton. The Lightning struck for three goals in the final six minutes of the first period, twice on the power play.
Teddy Purcell net his first goal of the season on a pretty pass from Steven Stamkos on the Bolts first power play of the evening to make it a . Less than two minutes later Eric Brewer lit the lamp on a slap shot from the point giving the Bolts a 2-1 lead. Tampa Bay closed out the first period on a goal top shelf from Vincent Lecavalier. The Bolts second power play goal of the night made it 3-1 Tampa Bay after the first.
Following a scoreless second period, the Lightning struck twice more in the third. Less than a minute into the third Victor Hedman scored on a rebound to make it 4-1. Steven Stamkos got into the action scoring his third goal of the season following a Braydon Coburn penalty to make it 5-1 Bolts.
The Lightning outshot the Flyers 26 to 25 as Anders Lindback earns his third win of the season in four starts. Martin St. Louis finished with four assists, and Sami Salo with over twenty four minutes of ice time had two helpers as well.
The Bolts will have Monday off before hosting Florida on Tuesday night at the Tampa Bay Times Forum. Catch all the action on 970am WFLA with the pre-game at 7:00pm.
