Killorn, Alexander

Slump busted, barely.

TB-6
FLA-5 (OT)

Anders Lindback allowed 5 goals on 30 shots for the victory. Really only one of those goals was truly cringe-worthy. Either way, he gets the W and with the decision, he graduates from prospect status on Bolt Prospects.

First Period
00:48 FLA Matthias (3), (Weaver, Skille)
04:48 TB Pouliot (4), (Lecavalier, St. Louis)
06:51 TB Killorn (1), (Carle)

Second Period
02:27 FLA Skille (2), (Matthias, Weaver)
03:42 TB Stamkos (8), (Conacher, Purcell)
19:55 FLA Smithson (1), (Kovalev)

Third Period
01:53 FLA Huberdeau (6), (Shore, Strachan)
03:24 FLA Kopecky (3), (Weiss, Campbell)
07:28 TB Stamkos (9), (Purcell, St. Louis)(PP)
19:49 TB Purcell (4), (Stamkos, Thompson)

Overtime
01:19 TB Pouliot (5), (Pyatt, Bergeron)

Benoit Pouliot (pictured), Steven Stamkos, and Martin St. Louis were the game's three stars.

At this point of the season, against this opponent, this was 2 points the Lightning absolutely had to have. They outshot the Panthers. They outhit them. They bested them in the faceoff circles. They got the better end on special teams. And yet, still, the Lightning came within 11 seconds of dropping a must win game.

Congratulations to Alex Killorn on his first NHL goal on a pretty nice shot from the high slot. He also had 2 shots and 2 hits in 12:31.

Richard Panik had 3 hits in 7:09.

Cory Conacher had a helper and was -1 with 2 penalty minutes, 4 shots, and 1 hit in 15:01.

Box score and extended statistics from NHL.com.

I expected more after the comeback in the Canadiens game.

WSH-4
TB-3

Mathieu Garon allowed 4 goals on 39 shots for the loss. Far be it from me to question Guy Boucher, but at this point I'd be strapping a saddle to Anders Lindback and riding him the rest of the season.

First Period
02:40 WSH Brouwer (7), (Perrault, Backstrom)(PP)
08:23 TB St. Louis (4), (Pouliot, Lecavalier)

Second Period
05:09 WSH Fehr (2), (Perrault, Ward)

Third Period
02:22 WSH Fehr (3), (Perrault, Carlson)
07:29 WSH Beagle (1), (Schultz, Kundratek)
12:02 TB Purcell (3), (Stamkos)
16:47 TB Thompson (3), (St. Louis)

Nate Thompson was the game's third star.

Alex Killorn was -1 with 1 hit in 10:25.

Richard Panik was -1 with 1 shot and 2 hits in 8:32.

Cory Conacher was -2 with 2 shots and 2 hits in 16:56.

Box score and extended statistics from NHL.com.

It's a loss, but it feels like a win.

MTL-4
TB-3 (SO)

Anders Lindback allowed 3 goals on 34 shots before allowing 1 of 2 shooters to convert in the penalty shot session for the shootout loss. He was magnificent in overtime, helping the team kill off a 4-on-3 PP. Absolutely magnificent. Here's the upshot with Anders: he still doesn't graduate from prospect status on this site until his next NHL decision. Tonight was just the second shootout in his NHL career. He's got a lot of time to gain experience and get better.

First Period
19:17 MTL Gionta (3), (Plekanec, Subban)(PP)

Second Period
8:21 MTL Subban (3), (Eller)
18:54 MTL Moen (1), (Eller, Armstrong)

Third Period
14:04 TB Hedman (3), (Pyatt, Pouliot)
18:17 TB Hedman (4), (Purcell, Salo)
19:16 TB Salo (1), (Lecavalier, St. Louis)(PP)

Overtime
NO SCORING

Shootout
MTL- Desharnais
TB- NONE

Victor Hedman and Anders Lindback were the game's first and second stars.

As any reader of this blog should know by now, being down by 3 goals in the third period is supposed to be a death sentence in professional hockey. Unofficially, I'll bet 98% of the time you don't come back from it. That's why cutting leads to 2 goals to give yourself a chance heading into the third period is so important. So, when a team beats the long odds to overcome a 3 goal deficit to steal a point like the Lightning did tonight, it's a big deal for that team's confidence and swagger. And the way the Lightning got the game tied tonight is they made their own luck and got a couple of bounces on their last 2 goals. I expect the team to really break out of their slump in the next game feeding off their performance in the third period tonight. This was a shootout loss that feels like a win, for sure.

Alex Killorn was +1 with 2 penalty minutes and 1 shot on goal in 10:53.

Richard Panik was -1 with 1 hit and 1 blocked shot in 9:58 in his NHL debut. As with Killorn's debut in the last game, we're proud papas on the site to see Panik make it to the show.

Cory Conacher was -1 with 2 hits in 14:15.

Box score and extended statistics from NHL.com.

We continue our Prospect of the Week award, an honor (virtually) given to one Tampa Bay Lightning prospect for their recent contributions on and off the ice.

The Prospect of the Week for February 12 is … Alex Killorn, C/W, Tampa Bay (NHL – USA)

More than five years after his draft day, Alex Killorn made his NHL debut for the Tampa Bay Lightning at the world’s most famous arena.

Killorn, a third round pick of the Bolts in 2009, had an assist on Sunday in the Lightning’s 5-1 loss to the Rangers at Madison Square Garden. Killorn started on the third line, but worked his way up to a scoring line with Vincent Lecavalier and Teddy Purcell by game’s end. He brought grit on the forecheck and his willingness to play in front of the net resulted in an assist.

The Lightning brought Killorn to the big club to add size and skill to the Bolts’ third line. Dana Tyrell was waived and assigned to AHL Syracuse.

Suddenly, the entire organization is circling the drain.

TB-1
NYR-5

Mathiru Garon allowed 3 goals on 19 shots for the loss before being pulled for Anders Lindback who allowed 2 on 13 the rest of the way. Garon's played like hot garbage the past few starts he's had, and the third goal he allowed was horribly soft.

First Period
00:31 NYR Hagelin (2), (Nash, Girardi)
15:13 NYR Callahan (3), (unassisted)

Second Period
09:58 NYR Hagelin (3), (Staal)
14:42 TB Lecavalier (5), (Hedman, Killorn)

Third Period
12:22 NYR Asham (1), (McDonagh)
19:51 NYR Nash (3), (Hagelin, Girardi)

It's an embarassing, frustrating time to be a fan of the Lightning organization, as both Tampa Bay and Syracuse got shelled tonight and had to pull their goaltenders mid stream en route to being thumped. The symptoms are similar. Stupid turnovers. Uneven effort. Goaltending that can't seem to make big stops when they're needed to erase mistakes. It's hard not to feel disgusted right now.

Alex Killorn had 1 assist and 2 penalty minutes in his NHL debut. He also had 2 shots on goal in 13:17 of ice time, earning a promotion to the Lecavalier line. It was a pretty good debut after some early shifts where he looked a little wide eyed about the pace of the game. I just wish the result for the team had been better for his first game.

Pierre-Cedric Labrie had 1 hit in 6:45. I'm not seeing a lot of positives in his shifts. He's second to a lot of pucks, and not really landing any hits in the process.

Cory Conacher was -1 with 3 shots and 1 hit in 20:03. The fact the Lightning have to play a rookie, even one as good as Conacher, 20+ minutes to try to spark offense is an awfully bad omen.

Box score and extended statistics from NHL.com.