SI:AM | Goalie Fight Spurs Historic Comeback for Lightning in Outdoor Game vs. Bruins

Good morning, I’m Dan Gartland. I think NHL officials were the only ones happy about how cold it was in Florida yesterday.

In today’s SI:AM:
🗣️ Marshawn’s presser revisited
🎾 Wertheim’s Aussie Open thoughts
🇮🇹 A different side of Italy at the Olympics

Stadium Series thriller

The NHL got exactly what it wanted with its last big showcase event before the league takes a break for the Olympics. Sunday night’s outdoor Stadium Series game in Tampa between the Lightning and Bruins was one of the best games of the season—and a historic one for Tampa Bay.

The Lightning’s 6–5 shootout victory featured the largest comeback in franchise history. Tampa Bay’s Brandon Hagel scored just 11 seconds into the game (the fastest goal ever scored in an outdoor NHL game), but the Bruins then scored five unanswered goals to take a 5–1 lead midway through the second period. Oliver Bjorkstrand’s goal cut it to 5–2 before the real turning point occurred: a goalie fight.

With nine minutes left in the second period, Hagel stuck his stick in Boston goalie Jeremy Swayman’s pads after Swayman saved a long shot. The netminder objected to Hagel’s prodding and jumped to his feet to take a swing at him. Several Bruins teammates rushed in to join the fray, at which point Lightning goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy skated out of his crease to challenge Swayman to a tilt. Swayman ditched his glove, blocker and mask (and pulled Hagel’s stick out of his leg pads) and threw down with his Tampa Bay counterpart. Vasilevskiy landed a few big left-handed punches that quickly dropped Swayman and the officials broke up the brawl.

After the game, Lightning players credited Vasilevskiy’s tilt with helping to turn the tide.

“That was a game-changing moment for our team, and that’s what we needed,” Tampa Bay forward Jake Guentzel said. “That was definitely cool to watch.”

The game did change dramatically shortly after the fight as Boston committed three penalties in a span of one minute and 42 seconds. Whether or not the Bruins were rattled by seeing Vasilevskiy drop Swayman is a matter of debate, but there’s no denying that the Lightning made Boston pay for its mistakes. Tampa Bay scored two power-play goals 23 seconds apart (both with a two-man advantage) to cut the Bruins’ lead to 5–4 late in the second period. Lightning star Nikita Kucherov then tied the game with a goal 11:50 into the third period.

A thrilling overtime period ended without a winner and the game had to be decided by a shootout. Guentzel was the only player who found the back of the net in the shootout, and the Lightning completed their monumental comeback. It was the first time in franchise history that they’d come back from a deficit of at least four goals.

“It was the game that had everything,” Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. “It had the weather in a state which doesn’t usually get weather like this. It was a phenomenal atmosphere, perfect ice hockey playing conditions. You had goalie fights, you had 11 goals, you had a shootout. It had everything. That one’s going to go in the memory bank. It was a special occasion.”

With the win, the Lightning moved into a tie with the Hurricanes for the best record in the Eastern Conference. It was just a continuation of a torrid streak for the Lightning, who have won 17 out of their last 19 games. They have two games left before the three-week Olympic break. The challenge will be maintaining that momentum after the long layoff.

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The top five…

… things I saw yesterday:
5. Ohio State guard Kennedy Cambridge’s nasty spin move.
4. Lightning coach Jon Cooper’s gaudy suit that paid tribute to Tampa’s mafia history.
3. Reggie Miller’s reaction to a big dunk by LeBron James.
2. A classic no-look assist by Nikola Jokić.
1. This pair of outrageous blocks by Victor Wembanyama. First, in the second quarter, he swatted a layup attempt off the top of the backboard. Then, in the third, he had another acrobatic rejection.