A Strong Start: The Lightning came flying out of the gates. On the opening shift, the line of J.T. Miller, Mathieu Joseph and Anthony Cirelli stormed into the offensive zone on the forecheck, forced a turnover and generated two terrific scoring chances. On their second shift, they converted. Following a Lightning dump-in, Miller stole the puck in the left corner and centered to Cirelli. Martin Jones stopped Cirelli's shot, but Joseph swept in the rebound. Those strong early shifts sparked the Lightning, who dictated play in the early minutes.

Pushback in the Second Period: The Lightning didn't maintain their early-game momentum, however, as the Sharks took control in the second half of the first period. A San Jose power play halfway through the first got them going and they carried play through the end of the period. Yes, the Lightning momentarily took a 2-0 lead late in the first with an Alex Killorn goal, but that tally came against flow-of-play and was the Lightning's only shot in the final 10 minutes of the period. Instead, the Sharks were the ones generating dangerous chances and they posted 10 of the period's final 11 shots. The last of those went in, when Evander Kane converted on a power play. Kane then scored another goal in the opening minute of the second, tying the game at two.

But just as the Sharks were helped by a power play opportunity, so too were the Lightning. When Joakim Ryan went to the penalty box at 3:14 of the second, the Lightning produced several good looks on Jones. Even though it didn't result in a goal, that power play helped the Lightning reestablish their game. A couple of minutes after the penalty ended, they took back the lead. Yanni Gourde scored on a rebound after Steven Stamkos' one-timer from the left circle missed the net and caromed off the backboard to the other side of the goal.

When the Sharks committed overlapping penalties later in the frame, the Lightning added another goal. Victor Hedman sped into the offensive zone between two San Jose penalty killers and finished an in-alone chance from the low slot.

The Sharks did have some extended offensive zone shifts in the second, but they weren't nearly as dangerous with their shot attempts as they had been in the first.

Shutting It Down in the Third: For the first 16 minutes of the third, the Lightning played text-book team defense. During that time, they held the Sharks to just four shots on goal, defended tightly in front of Andrei Vasilevskiy and managed the puck well (so they limited turnovers). They also added to their lead when Stamkos scored a couple of goals. The final minutes got a bit sloppy as the Sharks applied pressure during a late power play, posted six late shots and scored a goal in the closing minute. But as a whole, the Lightning's best defensive period was the third.

Individually, Vasilevskiy again was sharp, especially in making 15 first period saves. He improved to 8-0 after a loss. (As a team, the Lightning are now 11-1 in games immediately after a defeat). Gourde snapped a nine-game goalless skid and was extremely happy to score. He had been playing well but snake-bitten recently. As mentioned earlier, the line of Cirelli, Miller and Joseph had an impactful night. Hedman, with a goal and an assist, played another strong game, And Stamkos contributed the two third period goals and added an assist.

Lightning Radio Three Stars of the Game (as selected by Phil Esposito):