Valtteri Filppula

Tampa Bay Lightning F Valtteri Filppula Scores 150th NHL Goal (Video)

Published Jun. 30, 2017 6:28 p.m. ET

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Tampa Bay Lightning center Valtteri Filppula scored his 150th career NHL goal in the Lightning’s 5-1 loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets.

The Tampa Bay Lightning had yet another tough night on the road. The Bolts picked up their third-straight loss at the Nationwide Arena as they took on the Columbus Blue Jackets. While this may seem like a lot of doom and gloom, which to some degree it is, there was a small light at the end of the tunnel tonight.

The highlight of the night tonight was the lone Tampa Bay Lightning goal in tonight’s contest that essentially ruined the shutout for Blue Jackets netminder Sergei Bobrovsky. At the same time, ruining the shutout for Bobrovsky (which is awesome in itself,) isn’t the reason this goal was so special.

It turns out, the lone goal in tonight’s contest – which was scored by Lightning center Valtteri Filppula – was the 150th career NHL goal for the 32-year-old Finnish forward. While the Lightning may not have picked up the victory in tonight’s encounter, at least Filppula’s 150th goal served a valuable purpose.

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Let’s take a look at how Filppula’s milestone goal played out on the ice. The time continued to tick off the clock as the third period prepared to meet its end.

The Lightning were finally getting some decent puck possession in their offensive zone. Lightning forward Brayden Point took a shot, but it deflected off Jack Johnson.

This is when Valtteri Filppula finally got his stick on the puck. Filppula rushed towards the goal, faking a shot and completely faking out a stickless Josh Anderson.

Just as he approached the goal, Filppula pulled back his stick and fired off a shot that beat Johnson, upended Bobrovsky and sailed into the back of the net.

As you can imagine, Bobrovsky was visibly frustrated with himself, almost getting a glove on the puck as it sailed past him and into the back of the net. It must be painful for a goaltender to be that close to a shutout only to have it all taken away just moments before the final buzzer.

While we are certainly excited for Valtteri Filppula’s milestone achievement, we really wish it had come under happier circumstances. It would’ve been nice to pick up a win in tonight’s contest and get things back on the right track, but it simply wasn’t meant to be tonight.

The Tampa Bay Lightning have a real challenge in front of them on Thursday night. The Lightning will finish off their current three-game road trip with a stop at the Scottrade Center to take on the St. Louis Blues. The Blues are currently in second place in the Central Division, just behind the Chicago Blackhawks.

The one thing we know for sure is the Lightning will have to work together as a cohesive unit if they want to finish off this road trip on a high note. Hopefully, the Lightning will find their way in between now and then.