Lightning Prospects outscore Capitals 7-6 in Rookie Tournament Opener

The Tampa Bay Lightning prospects were “a bit nervous” according to head coach Benoit Groulx facing their counterparts from the Washington Capitals to start the 2016 Rookie Tournament hosted by the Florida Panthers at the Panthers IceDen in Coral Springs.

But after falling behind 2-0 within the first five minutes, the Lightning settled.

They responded.

And then they dominated.

Paced by a pair of goals from Brayden Point and 2016 first round draft pick Brett Howden plus a four-point night from Point, the Lightning rallied from a deficit three separate times before pulling away for a 7-6 victory in the opening game of the three-day rookie tournament.

“I thought we got better as the game went along,” Groulx said. “I really liked our third period. I thought we controlled that third period; our forecheck was good, our second effort was good. We did a lot of good things. I liked the grit we brought to this game because we were down 2-0 early, we came back. We were down 4-2, came back again and then took control of the game. A lot of good things for our first game obviously.”

The Lightning scored three-consecutive goals after falling behind 5-4 seven minutes into the third period. Howden netted his second goal of the game, crashing the back post and one-timing Taylor Raddysh’s cross-ice pass into the back of the net to level the score 5-5 halfway through the third.

“It felt good,” Howden said. “It’s just great to be out here with everybody. Everybody’s a great player. Every shift you go out there, you’re working as hard as you can. Everybody’s having a lot of fun, and that’s the biggest thing, if you’re having fun, everybody’s playing …

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