Best of the Bolts: Round of 32 Voting – Group 1

Voting for the first group of Best of the Bolts matchup starts at Noon on August 1 and ends at Noon on August 3. Each matchup is listed below and you can vote as many times as you’d like for your favorite play in each matchup.

The Butt Goal vs. Capital Punishment

MAY 22, 2016: THE BUTT GOAL

Lightning defenseman Jason Garrison sure looked like he’d scored his second game-winning goal of the 2016 playoffs when he snapped a wrist shot from the left dot past Pittsburgh goalie Marc-Andre Fleury 53 seconds into overtime of Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Final.

Garrison had already supplied the game-winner in a pivotal Game 4 win at the New York Islanders in the second round.

Garrison continued to find overtime magic in Pittsburgh, his timely shot giving the Lightning a 4-3 victory in Game 5 vs the Penguins. Replay would show Garrison’s shot changed direction slightly when it hit Johnson’s backside.

“I thought (Garrison) was going for my head again, so I just turned around,” Johnson, credited with the winning tally, said after Game 5. Johnson undoubtedly was feeling apprehensive about getting hit in the face again after taking a puck to the mouth in warmups of Game 4, opening a cut that would require stitches and force him to wear a full cage in that game.

Johnson’s self-preservation reflex turned out to be the right move for the Lightning as it tipped the puck past Fleury and put the Lightning just one win away from a second-straight Eastern Conference championship and a spot in the Stanley Cup Final.

DECEMBER 18, 2015: CAPITAL PUNISHMENT

The Tampa Bay Lightning would just as soon forget their mid-season meeting with the Washington Capitals in D.C.

Tampa Bay seemed well on its way to winning its third game in a row after opening a 3-0 lead on the Capitals by the game’s midpoint.

From that point, however, the Caps took complete control, scoring five unanswered goals in a stunning flurry of offensive prowess to win 5-3 and sweep all three regular season games from the Lightning.

Still, there were a couple of good moments for the Bolts, highlighted by Alex Killorn’s ridiculous goal to open the scoring.

A little more than eight minute into the game, Killorn got the puck in the high slot without anyone defending him. The forward skated toward goal, got the Caps’ Justin Williams to fall to the ice, skated around Williams, pulled Caps goalie Braden Holtby out of goal by faking a shot, waited, skated, waited some more and then slipped the puck past Holtby’s outstretched leg at the post to put the Bolts up 1-0.

Killorn’s goal will certainly make his career highlight reel.

The Bolts can burn the rest of the film, however, particularly the final 30 minutes of an epic collapse.

Round of 32 Butt Goal Capital Punishment Do Riddles

Andrei the Giant vs. Garrison makes history on opening night

MARCH 7, 2016: ANDREI THE GIANT

Tampa Bay backup goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy had two pretty remarkable saves in the Lightning’s 4-2 loss in Philadelphia.

We’re going with his first great save for the purposes of our Top 32.

A turnover in the Bolts’ defensive zone led to a two-on-none opportunity for the Flyers’ Pierre-Edouard Bellemare and Wayne Simmonds. Bellemare zipped a pass to Simmonds on the doorstep, and Simmonds returned a pass back to Bellemare for the final setup and what should have been a tap-in goal.

Except Vasilevskiy read the play perfectly and bounced to his left to rob Bellemare.

Later in the game with the score tied 1-1, Chris VandeVelde had an open rebound try at the post. Vasilevskiy, again displaying his quick reflexes, stuck his left leg out and got just enough of his skate on VandeVelde’s shot to keep the puck out.

…

continue reading in source lightning.nhl.com