One can excuse much of the hockey world for being a little bleary eyed during the time of the Tampa Bay Lightning - Vancouver Canucks game.
After all, it’s the only game of the night, with a late start. Some may be barely over the “results” of New Year’s Eve festivities. There’s also that 2014 Winter Classic that may leave some would-be onlookers groggy.
The game started in a yawn-inducing way, too, but hopefully fans didn’t doze off during a run of second period goals Wednesday night.
Bruce Richardson scored for Vancouver 11:25 into the middle frame, but things didn’t really pick up until four minutes later. Over a span of just more than 30 seconds, a 1-0 game turned into a 2-2 tie. Here are the goals in chronological order.
Valtteri Filppula made it 1-1 with a snapshot 15:27 into the period:
Twenty seconds later, Tyler Johnson gave Tampa Bay a fleeting 2-1 lead:
That lead only made persisted for 14 seconds, however, as Zac Dalpe scored his first goal of the season:
One can only imagine the lightning puns that were striking down on readers after that display.
Update: The Lightning ended up winning 4-2 on Wednesday. The Bolts ended a two-game skid, extending Vancouver’s losing streak to two in the process.