Hagel’s 12th goal of the season was only his latest offensive splash, as he now holds nine points over his previous three games.
Lightning goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy denied Jonathan Huberdeau alone in the crease to spring his team on a rush chance, one that ended with Hagel’s shot from the left faceoff circle ripping into the top right corner of the net for the 1-0 tally.
The goal was only the first chapter of a book filled with early offense for Tampa Bay on Wednesday. It was 2-0 Lightning less than 90 seconds into the game.
Forward Nick Paul collected the puck in the left corner of the offensive zone and dished a pass to defenseman Charle-Edouard D’Astous at the point, where the latter’s one-timed slap shot found the net 1:26 into play.
Zemgus Girgensons extended the Lightning lead again just before the game’s sixth minute—Girgensons rushed down the left boards and sent a pass toward the net, where the puck caromed in off a Flames defender’s stick to make it 3-0.
The goal was Girgensons’ fifth of the season and 200th NHL point, making him only the third Latvia-born player to reach 200 points in the league. The goal forced Calgary into a goaltending change, but the offensive onslaught wasn’t over.
Declan Carlile welcomed Flames goalie Devin Cooley to the game by scoring his first goal of the season, burying a slap shot from the left circle through the legpads of Cooley at the 10:01 mark.
Tampa Bay’s 4-0 lead through 10:01 of game time was the team’s third-fastest four goals to open a game in franchise history.
“It was just playing simple hockey, just direct hockey, and we got those four quick,” Girgensons said postgame. “After that it was kind of an interesting game with the power plays and the PK, but definitely good to start that way."
Vasilevskiy wasn’t busy through the opening 20 minutes of hockey with five saves, but it was his stop on Huberdeau in the game’s first minute that allowed for such a productive start.
“Phenomenal,” Carlile said of Vasilevskiy. “I mean, best goalie in the world. Obviously I'm not here all the time, but I watch a lot of games and been watching for a long time, and, yeah, he's one of a kind.”
The Lightning goalie ended with 32 saves on 33 shots faced and is now 5-0-0 with a .970 save percentage over his last five starts. He was particularly busy in the third period, stopping 18 Calgary shots on goal in a period that the home team was outshot 19-4.
