Game 68: Tampa 5 vs. Edmonton 2- Postgame Reaction

Stevie Z breakdowns Tampa's impressive 5-2 win over Edmonton from Saturday night, March 21, 2026.

Transcript

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What's going on everyone? Stevie Z here. Just wanted to give you a little reaction pod after the Lightning win 5-2 versus Edmonton on Saturday night. Coming into the game, Victor Hedman was out day-to-day, so Emil Illeberg draws back in. Uh coming into this game, Kuchrov was one point behind McDavid, 114 to 115 in the uh scoring race. The Oilers were coming off a 4-0 loss to Florida on Thursday night. Look, I thought coming into this game that this game was going to be much uh mussy TV. And I'll be honest with you, I thought it was. I love watching McDavid play. I'm just an admirer of watching great players play. Uh that's why, like, when Sidney Crosby comes to town, or when he was younger, uh, I used to love making sure that I was in the arena to watch him. Same thing with Patrick Kane. But onto the game. Edmonton came out to play and wanted to play with a response after getting shot out on Thursday by Florida. I thought they did. I thought they dictated play early on. Uh Tampa wasn't on their heels, but I thought that the flow of the play definitely swung in favor of Edmonton early on. Uh McDavid gets a chance with 16 minutes in the first, but rings it off the far post. And really, after that, it was fairly balanced. Uh, I thought that later on in the first period, Tampa grew into it and they had more sustained offensive zone pressure. I really thought that Edmonton did a good job of keeping Tampa to the outside and clogging up the middle. But with 27 seconds left in the first, McDavid wins a face-off after an icing. Uh Evan Bouchard gets two cracks at the goal, one gets blocked. The second one beats Vasi from deep through a tip, through a bunch of traffic, and it gets hit by Connor McDavid. So 1-0 after the first period, on to the second period, 90 seconds into the second period. Tampa ties the game. They get a really good offensive zone shift from Sorelli Hagel and Kuchoff. They have a couple of chances in close, and Kuchoff ends up shooting a shot that goes wide but gets retrieved. JJ Moser gets a shot on net, but it's redirected to Kuch, who then makes the play to Sorelli in front of the net, who then gets his 18th goal of the season. Tampa continued with more sustained offensive zone pressure in the second, and I thought that they were beating Edmund to lose Pucks to keep Pucks in the offensive zone. And then we get to about to the 14-minute mark, and this is where the game turns chippy. Uh, Homberg hits Bouchard through the back of the numbers. It's really around the name tag. I thought that Bouchard did it to himself by turning late into the boards, and Homberg just finished his check. I guess it was where Homberg's hands were. They were on the nameplate and they were forceful. So Edmonton was really upset with it, and obviously it's Bouchard. Uh, Edmonton didn't like it. And there's a scrum. Connor McDavid gets into the scrum, grabs Homberg, and Homberg drops the gloves. I don't even knew if I don't even know if he knew it was Connor McDavid, but he just dropped. And he was ready to fight before the refs jumped in. Edmonton wanted to show a response from Thursday's game because they took some big hits from Florida, and there was some criticism about how they didn't respond. So they they try to force the scrum, and it ends up being four on four. Homburg gets out of the box, and a couple minutes go by, and then Connor Murphy challenges Homburg. Homberg obliges, and I thought it was a pretty good tilt from guys who aren't known for fighting. This that was Homberg's second career NHL fight. After the fight, on the very next shift, the chippiness level raises when Darnell Nurse and Pot Colzen double-team Hegel along the boards, and Hegel gets checked in the head by Nurse. Hegel is pissed. He breaks his stick over the board, and I can understand his frustration as knowing Hegel, he's had a problem with concussions in his career. Sorelli then answers the bell right away versus Pot Colson. Pot Kolson wins that pretty easily. And Sorelli appears to hurt his hand. I guess he cut his hand on the visor. Like I said, Nurse gets dinged for an illegal check to the head penalty. Both Hegel and Sorelli end up going into the tunnel but end up returning. Tampa scores on that power play when Kucharoff finds Gensel on the goal line extended. Gensel walks out in front and roofs it unchallenged far side on Connor Ingram for his 31st on the season and Kucharov's second point of the night. So it was 2-1 Tampa with 7.39 left in the second. Then Tampa goes right back on the power play after a holding call on Connor McDavid on Corey Perry. A bit of a sell job by Corey Perry. Bolts don't end up scoring on it, and the power play ends early on Kucharoff tripping on Jason Dickinson. And my word, Jason Dickinson, what a dive. What a dive. I mean, Kucharoff doesn't even touch his skates, and just they get the stick gets close to his skates, and Dickinson just goes ass over T Kettle. So they go on a power play. It was a quick four-on-four for 19 seconds, and then Gord takes a slashing penalty to give Edmonton an extended five-on-three for a minute and 13 seconds with just over four minutes left in the second period. Edmonton gets great pressure on that five-on-three. They ring one off the post, but they don't end up scoring on it. And I thought Vasi was incredibly strong on this PK. And the PK guys did an amazing job killing off the five-on-three. McDavid gets the puck. He's skating up the ice. He cuts through the middle, and then Lilleberg levels him in the Tampa defensive zone. Moser gathers the loose puck and ends up finding Cooch all alone fresh out of the penalty box for a short-handed breakaway. Cooch makes absolutely no mistake for his first career short-handed goal. 3-1 Tampa with just over three minutes in the second. And ultimately the Bolts end up killing off both penalties. Here's what I'll say about the second period. Tampa plays so much better in emotional games when they are responding to the rough stuff rather than trying to enforce it. Especially compared to the most recent Buffalo game. And aside from that, you'll never believe who were in the comments on social media when Hegel got injured, I guess, or got taken out by the concussion spotter. I'll leave you to look that up. But look, 42 majors fighting majors by Tampa and it leads the league. It's by committee. You can definitely believe that Tampa is not intimidated by a team like Edmonton. They're not really intimidated by anybody. So and John Cooper talked about it post-game where he compared it to the cup runs of 20 and 21, where this team they had the stars, but there's an identity. And Brandon Hagel said it too after the game that everybody in that locker room is willing to get a black eye for each other. They will drop the gloves. I look at Edmonton. I don't think, outside of Nurse and Pot Colson, I'm not sure who's willing to drop the gloves on that team. McDavid looks fed up. I know he tried to get in the mix there with Homeberg in the second period. They weren't going to allow that to happen. That's why Connor Murphy asked Homburg to answer. Right? He he checked Bouchard and there was really no penalty on it. Um, I don't think there was a penalty called on it. And then he dropped the glove and was willing to have a go at McDavid. Obviously, the Oilers were gonna try to make a response, and that that should have been settled when it happened. If anybody was was really about it on that Oilers team, Holmberg probably would have been handled right after the hit. The the outrage and all the stuff that they were trying to do with Connor Murphy having to step up because nobody else would. Give me a break. Give me a break. They're not that team. They'll continue to get pushed around, and it is just what it is for them. They've got their own set of issues. Into the third period, uh, just over 12 and a half left in the third, and we get a weird play along the boards. Bjorkstrand pitchforks the puck towards our own net. Littleberg tries to settle it down, it bounces over the stick, and it gets into the net past Vasi. It's 3-2 at that point. Josh Domansky gets his first goal as the last Edmonton player. I don't even touch the puck. He was probably just the closest Edmonton player. Gets his first career goal off that. Moving on a little bit later, 428 left in the third period. Point Hagel go to work behind Edmonton's net. Nobody is defending Cooch, who is all alone to the left of Connor Ingram. Hagel finds him to make it 4-2. And near the end of the game, 30 seconds left. Sorelli gets an empty net, short-handed goal to make it 5-2. John Cooper is seen smiling behind the bench on the hockey night in Canada feed. And I was like, yeah, good night. Good night for Tampa. I I thought it was a really good third period by Tampa to manage the game, even when it was 3-2. They were selective when to push, they weren't careless about how they manage the puck. They forced the issue when needed, absorbed pressure with allowing to consume them in their own D-zone. That was a very good performance by Tampa. And that's a very talented Edmonton Oilers team. From a skill perspective, one of the best. And any team that has Connor McDavid on it is a joy to watch. But from a physicality standpoint, that that is not their deal. Tampa broke the game open in the second period again, similar to how they did against Vancouver. And they kind of just carried it throughout the remainder of the game. Really buttoned up performance. Vasi was excellent. I'm sorry, 25 saves on 27 shots. And they were both like dirty goals that beat them. Like there was there wasn't a clean look that went in the net. Edmonton had their chances, none of them went in. Kucharoff took the lead in points from McDavid with a four-point night, two goals, two assists. He leads the league now with 118 points to McDavid's 116. Amazing run, Kucharov is on. Simply amazing. Watching the Hockey Night in Canada post-game, Kucharoff is now plus 46 and plus minus. And he's plus 46 in points on the team in comparison to Tampa's next highest point score. So when you talk about art trophy consideration and what he means to this Tampa team and the run that he's been on since the new year, or really since December. It's just you can't you can't fathom what it is. Like he's he's being continuing to be mentioned in the same realm as Gretzky and Lemieux for what he's doing currently. So they interviewed Darren Radish after the game as well on Hockey Night in Canada. He's got 18 points in his last 18 games. He played 26 minutes versus Edmonton. Look, his play right now is he's earning that next contract. I mean, we're hoping it's with Tampa, right? And that bigger sample size that JBB was talking about is being laid out right in front of him. Couple good defensive plays. Just eating those minutes that would go to Hedman, but he stepped up into that role. Something that I do want to say about Hedman and some of these defense pairings. I really liked the Destu Lilleberg pairing. It's that simplicity and edge that they play with the third pair that I appreciate. It's nothing flashy, but it's the effectiveness from a third D pair that I like to see. And people have talked about Destu a little bit lately. People seem to forget that he's 27 years old, and he's not really he's not a rookie to hockey. He's not young in hockey. Right? And I kind of want to profile him on the next main podcast, but people seem to forget that this isn't his first go-around. Like he he can play, and he's serviceable in the role that uh Tampa is asking him to play. You know, and you think about it, right? Between Das 2 and Lilliberg, like I like I said on the main podcast, they're Lilleberg and Das 2 are the third most utilized D-pair this season after Motor Moser Radish and McDonough Chernak. Here's where I'm getting at. Honestly, with Headman out day-to-day now and 14 games left until the playoffs, I'm starting to think that John Cooper has a decision to make about how to implement Headman. And I know I have said it, I have been big on letting Headman work his way back into form. But you have to ask, is he missing too many games at this point to be a lock in the lineup? It's aside from his performance, okay? Because you you know that when Headman is on, he can perform at a damn near elite level, potentially, even at his age. But with the way Dastu and Lilleberg play and their chemistry, you kind of wonder, is that something that they're questioning behind the scenes? I don't know. I I think it it will be interesting to see how it shakes out. If it's just if it's truly just an illness and not an injury. I will be interested to see how they try to work Headman back in. And who sits? Who sits? And people get worked up about the third pair. You gotta remember those guys are playing 18 minutes a night, more than likely. The other two pairs are gonna carry the load defensively. What you just need from that third pair is to play that simple, effective game. Don't do more than they're being asked to do, but they can't do less than what they're being asked to do. And right now I think that that pair does it. We'll see. I guess against Calgary, if Hedman returns to the lineup, and if he doesn't, then I assume they have six healthy defensemen, well, seven with Santini, that the lineup will remain virtually the same with Johansson in net. It's a quick turnaround for Tampa. But I think it's been a successful road trip. It has been a successful road trip. They've gotten six out of the eight points right now. They can they can go they can go four for four and get all all eight points tonight with a win versus Calgary. One more thing that I wanted to mention going back to the defensemen, and I didn't realize this. I saw a stat last night on uh the Tampa feed, the local feed. They talked about games missed by defensemen. So Hedman has now missed 35 games out of the what 68 that Tampa has played? 67, 68. McDonough has missed 33, and I was shocked, but it said that Lillenberg has missed 31 games. And and that's what we're talking about. Like you look at those D pairs, that explains a lot why there hasn't been a lot of continuity and consistency amongst the defensive pairs, and why that Mosier and Radish and doing what they're doing is really impressive. Because nobody nobody saw it coming, and and what they're doing is they are just going out there, they're if they're not working on shutting down the opponent's best forward line, they're getting points themselves and chipping in offensively without sacrificing what they're being asked to do defensively. I think it's it's been a pleasant surprise, and I still will hang my head on that that needs to be the first D pair, obviously, through the remainder of the season and into the playoffs, assuming that Tampa gets in, but they now have 90 points. If you subscribe to the notion that you want to be at the 96 point mark for playoff safety, then Tampa really only needs three wins out of their last what 14 games to, I guess, be considered safe. But the way the Atlantic is shaping up, nobody is really safe right now. So, because everybody keeps winning, even though Tampa won't won, all the other teams in the division also won, or they they got points on Friday and Saturday night. So we'll see what happens, what shakes out. I just wanted to get this guy's out to you prior to the game versus Calgary. Remember, it's uh 8 p.m. game tonight, Lightning versus Calgary. I would assume that Johansson isn't net, like I said. Let's see if they can replicate what they did against Edmonton and continue to round that game into form. It's been fun. I think we were so close as a fan base. I don't want to say all of us because that's generalizing, but there were some that were ready to jump off a ledge with how this team was performing, and really this road trip has almost essentially flipped the script. Now you get the last game on the Alberta back-to-back against the second worst team in the league, and you're hoping that they go out and handle business and they come home for seven games. You get a little home cooking, and you really got to take care of home ice. And so I'm excited to see how the game versus Calgary goes. I was really impressed with how the Lightning played Saturday night versus Edmonton, and I think we all want to see that continue. But anyway, I'm off for now. Looking forward to the game tonight. And oh, by the way, I did change the name on X. Um so if you're trying to interact or whatever, it is now at 401 underscore Stev Z. If you want to leave questions or comments. But thanks for tuning in, guys. We'll talk soon. See ya.