The 2-1 loss to San Jose was a result of poor execution, while the 2-1 loss to Los Angeles was the Lightning ending up on the wrong side of a well-played game. On Sunday, Tampa Bay mixed their two previous games together in a 4-1 loss to the Anaheim Ducks. A poorly played first period led to a 2-0 deficit that they couldn’t overcome despite a statistical domination over the final 40 minutes. Anaheim goaltender John Gibson made his 200th win a stellar one as he stopped 36 of the 37 shots the Lightning threw at him on the night.
Jonas Johansson was solid in net for the Lightning as he stopped 22 out of 25 shots, which included several key saves in the second period as Tampa Bay tried to claw their way back into the game. After surrendering the first two goals (an absolute snipe job by Troy Terry and a deflection by Frank Vatrano), the Lightning did get one back in the middle frame as Jake Guentzel snapped home a one-timer on the power play for his 21st goal of the year. Despite an abundance of shot attempts (they finished the night with 82), the Lightning found the back of the net just once for the third game in a row.
Hockey is a humbling game as Coach Jon Cooper stated after the loss, and the Lightning offense is feeling that right now. Entering the three-game road trip, the Lightning were leading the league in goals scored, but managed just three total on the entire road trip. It was bound to happen at some point in the season. It’s rare that any team runs at a four-goal-a-game pace for an entire season, but to have it happen against a couple of teams in Anaheim and San Jose twists the knife in just a little bit deeper.
There aren’t going to be many periods where the Lightning generate 17 shots off of 13 scoring chances for 19:25 of 5v5 time in one period and not put a puck in the back of the net, but that’s what they did tonight in the middle frame. This team has too many elite goal-scorers for that to happen often, but they are in a stretch where their best efforts aren’t being rewarded, and their worst moments are being punished with goals against.
While the Lightning were voracious in pumping shots in the general direction of Gibson, the veteran netminder was able to see a lot of them cleanly. When asked what they could have done better after the game, all three members of the organization stated that they could have “taken his eyes away”. No, they weren’t looking to physically remove his eyeballs (as that would surely be some sort of penalty), rather they needed more screens in front of him so that he couldn’t see the shots off of their sticks.
In fact, the one goal they did score was a result of such a screen. Nikita Kucherov, who had been held off of the scoreboard in their previous two outings, cut to the center of the ice with the puck. Gibson was tracking him, but lost sight of the puck when Kucherov flashed in front of a group of players and then dropped the pass back in the opposite direction in which he was moving. Guentzel was there to one-time the puck into a fairly open net as Gibson was extremely late in recognizing where the danger was coming from.
In addition to not making it hard on Gibson to see the shots for the majority of the game, the Bolts also failed to generate a lot of second or third opportunities throughout the night. He was able to make a lot of saves and then recover, never needing to really scramble around the crease. That being said, the Lightning came close to tying the game at two several times in the middle frame, but just couldn’t quite get there.
Victor Hedman, who had 8 shots off of 9 attempts, almost bounced one off of Gibson’s helmet and in. Conor Geekie snuck out from behind the net and just had the puck roll off his stick as he tried to tuck it between the post and the goalie’s skate. Nick Paul found himself all alone in front of the net, but couldn’t drag the puck to his stick in time for a quality shot. All of these plays happened within minutes of each other. Coach Cooper threw his lines in a blender for awhile as Kucherov dropped down to play with Brandon Hagel and Anthony Cirelli, while Geekie joined Brayden Point and Guentzel.
Anaheim stymied their play a little in the third, and it also appeared that the Lightning ran a little tired after their second game in as many nights. The 2-1 lead finally became 3-1 when defenseman Jackson LaCombe jumped up on a rush and finished off a nice pass from old friend Alex Killorn with three-and-a-half minutes to play. At that point the Lightning were pushing for the game-tying goal and were bound to get caught up ice. That’s what happened, and it all but sealed the game. Frank Vatrano, he of the new three-year contract extension, finished things off for good with an empty-netter, his third point of the night.
The Lightning return home and won’t have long to ponder their pointless trip out west. The make-up game against Carolina looms large on Tuesday, and then they’ll have some tough games against Boston (twice), New Jersey, and a resurgent Pittsburgh team. While there is still plenty of time left in the season, they need to find a way to shake this funk right now and get back to gathering points, or their road to the playoffs will become quite bumpy.
