|
 Just three games into his NHL career, the Tampa Bay Lightning
left winger was already starting to squeeze his stick.
He can relax now.
The 19-year-old former third overall pick scored his first-ever NHL
goal at 4:45 of the second period to spark the Lightning to a 4-2
victory over the Winnipeg Jets on Friday night.
Drouin took a pass from behind the net from right winger Nikita
Kucherov and snapped the shot past Jets goalie Ondrej Pavelec.
"It was unbelievable, especially in Canada makes it even more
special," Drouin said. "I'm from Canada, and it was an exciting time
for me. It only happens once."
Drouin, a phenom in junior hockey coming off a pair of 100-plus
point seasons with the Halifax Mooseheads, said he was relieved to
get the first goal out of the way.
"It's over with now," he said. "You start to think about it, if you
don't score after a few games.
"(Kucherov) made a really nice play. He found me right in the slot
and I think Pavelec was looking the other way, so I just shot. I was
pretty glad."
 Drouin registered an assist earlier in the game, setting up center
Steven Stamkos' sixth goal of the season. Left winger Ondrej Palat
and center Vladislav Namestnikov also scored for Tampa Bay (5-2-1).
Kucherov finished the night with three assists.
The Jets (2-5) got goals from center Bryan Little and right winger
Blake Wheeler.
The game was just the third of the season for Drouin, who broke his
thumb during training camp. He spent some time with Syracuse of the
American Hockey League on a conditioning assignment before joining
the Lightning on Monday in Edmonton.
Stamkos said the youngster continues to impress.
"I can't say enough about the way he's played and the poise he has
at this stage in his career," Stamkos said. "He made some great
plays, and he's just going to continue to learn and get better. It's
fun to be on the ice with him."
Tampa Bay lost forwards J.T. Brown and Brett Connolly to injury in
the first period and were down to 10 forwards. But despite being
outshot 41-27, the club took advantage of some breakdowns by the
Jets and gutted out a solid two points on the road.
Winnipeg coach Paul Maurice said a very dangerous club was handed
far too many quality scoring chances.
"It was well-played by both team for a pretty big chunk... a pretty
good battle," Maurice said. "But when you're down 4-1 after two
periods of hockey it's tough to say you played better than them.
[to top of second column] |
"The quality chances we gave up were too high. The odd-man rushes we
gave up aren't coming off four (Jets) in off the rush. We're not
trading rush chances back and forth, it's just positional, fairly
basic things."
Tampa Bay goaltender Ben Bishop had a solid 40-save effort for the
Lightning. But Pavelec struggled for the Jets, surrendering four
goals on 18 shots through 40 minutes before being replaced by
Michael Hutchinson to start the third period. Hutchinson made nine
stops, several of them very difficult.
"It's the kind of game that gives you a sour taste in your mouth
because we made a couple of big mistakes and they took advantage of
it," said Little. "But for most of the game I thought we outplayed
them. You feel like you are a better team than that.
"Other than those mistakes it felt like we were in the game and we
were a better team than them."
Tampa Bay won three of four on its current five-game road swing. The
team wraps up the trip Saturday against the Minnesota Wild.
Winnipeg lost three of four during its five-game homestand. The Jets
host the Colorado Avalanche on Sunday afternoon.
NOTES: Jets LW Evander Kane, the club's only banged-up player, was
on the ice Friday morning with just his skates, helmet and gloves.
The 23-year-old sniper tested the knee he injured early in the first
period of Winnipeg's season opener more than two weeks ago in
Arizona when he collided with linemate C Mark Scheifele. There's no
word yet on his return. ... Lightning LW Jonathan Drouin, selected
third overall in the 2013 NHL draft, registered his first career
point on C Valtteri Filppula's first goal of the season Tuesday in
Calgary. ... The Jets had the third-most one-goal games in the NHL
last season (46) but through six games this season didn't have one.
... Missing from the Tampa Bay lineup on Friday were D Victor Hedman
(broken finger), RW Ryan Callahan (lower body) and LW Alex Killorn
(upper body). ... Winnipeg C Adam Lowry hit a major milestone
against Carolina (3-1) on Tuesday in just his sixth career NHL game.
He tipped in his first NHL goal, which turned out to be the
game-winner.
[© 2014 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
Copyright 2014 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
 |
