Tampa Bay Lightning Win Streak Snapped At Nine
The Tampa Bay Lightning watched as their record-setting win streak was snapped at nine after a terrible 4-2 loss at the hands of the Philadelphia Flyers.
The Tampa Bay Lightning knew coming into tonight’s encounter with the Philadelphia Flyers they would have to leave everything out on the ice. While we may not be in the Stanley Cup Playoffs just yet, this was an incredibly important game for the Lightning tonight.
A victory over the Flyers tonight would not only extend their franchise record-setting win streak to 10 games, but it would help create some separation between the currently first place Tampa Bay Lightning and the remainder of the Atlantic Division. Of course, the Philadelphia Flyers were most certainly not going to go down without a fight, given the fact they are currently fighting for one of the two Wild Card spots in the Eastern Conference.
The first period definitely didn’t get off to the start the Tampa Bay Lightning would have hoped. Just 1:46 seconds after the puck was dropped to start the game, the Lightning would find themselves on the penalty kill as Lightning defenseman Jason Garrison would head to the penalty box for two minutes for Holding.
Just under four minutes later, the Lightning would find themselves on the business end of a penalty kill once again. This time, it would be Lightning center Vladislav Namestnikov who would be headed to the sin bin for two minutes for High Sticking Flyers defenseman Brandon Manning.
Over the course of the first period, the Tampa Bay Lightning would be called for two more penalties. Thankfully, the Philadelphia Flyers were not able to capitalize on the opportunities laid out before them. The Lightning’s penalty kill definitely came up big in the first period. Unfortunately, other than Lightning goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy and left wing Ondrej Palat, they were the only ones who seemed to show up at all.
Speaking of Ondrej Palat, Palat would score his 11th goal of the season to open the scoring for the Tampa Bay Lightning early in the first period. The assists on the goal would be earned by Lightning defenseman Slater Koekkoek and center Tyler Johnson. This goal would also serve as Slater Koekkoek’s first NHL point.
When the buzzer sounded to end the first period of play, the Tampa Bay Lightning would lead the Philadelphia Flyers 1-0. Unfortunately for the Tampa Bay Lightning, this wasn’t for lack of the Flyers trying. The Lightning would be outshot by a rather large margin in the first period. The Flyers would outshoot the Lightning 9-3 through the first period of play.
As you can tell, Tampa Bay Lightning goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy had been forced to come up huge for the Bolts in the first period. The bad news is, Andrei Vasilevskiy hadn’t even seen the worst of things yet. Here comes the second period.
The Tampa Bay Lightning would be run into the ground over the course of the second period of play. While the Lightning defense and goaltending did their jobs, the Tampa Bay Lightning’s offense seemed to forget how to play hockey, even at the most elementary of levels.
Unlike the first period, there was just one lone penalty in the second period. The honor of reporting to the sin bin would fall on former Tampa Bay Lightning defenseman Radko Gudas. Gudas was called for two minutes for Holding Lightning center Alex Killorn. Once again, the Lightning penalty kill would be able to hold off the onslaught of the Philadelphia Flyers.
Over the course of the second period, Tampa Bay Lightning netminder Andrei Vasilevskiy did everything he could to keep the puck out of the net. Unfortunately, even the best goaltenders break at some point; especially when they aren’t getting much help in front of the net.
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Inside the final five minutes of the second period, Flyers defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere scored his 13th goal of the season to tie things up for the Philadelphia Flyers. There is no denying this was a punch in the gut to the Tampa Bay Lightning as they prepared to make their way back to the locker room for the for the second intermission.
Speaking of kicks in the gut, the Tampa Bay Lightning would be outshot even worse in the second period than they were in the first period of play. The Philadelphia Flyers were able to outshoot the Tampa Bay Lightning 22-6 in the second period of play. This adds up for a two period total of 31-9 over the course of 40 minutes of play. While we are all about quality over quantity, this is simply ridiculous.
The Tampa Bay Lightning are better than this. There have been games this season where the Bolts have been in the same position the Flyers are in tonight. There is absolutely no reason the Lightning should be allowing a team to control the pace of the game like this; especially if they have plans on having a deep run in the 2016 Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Unfortunately, things seemed to go from bad to worse for the Tampa Bay Lightning in the third period. The Flyers would continue to keep the pressure on the Lightning as they entered the third period. At 6:11 in the period, the Lightning would find themselves back on the penalty kill for the fifth time tonight. This time, it would be Lightning defenseman Nikita Nesterov, who was called for two minutes for Delay of Game.
This penalty would open the door for Shayne Gostisbehere to score his second goal of the night with the assistance of Flyers captain Claude Giroux and defenseman Mark Streit. This would give the Flyers a 2-1 lead over the Tampa Bay Lightning and cause the Bolts start chasing goals once again.
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The Tampa Bay Lightning slightly picked up their offense after the second goal from Gostisbehere, but the Bolts were still being dominated by the Flyers. Just after the halfway point in the third period, the Flyers were quickly approaching 40 shots on goal while the Lightning were nearing a mere 15 shots on goal. If the Tampa Bay Lightning had any chance of pulling out a win, they had to make their move right now.
Adding to the frustration of Tampa Bay Lightning fans all over the Bolts Nation, the Lightning would hesitate in making their much-needed move, and allow time for the Flyers to add yet another to their total. At 13:57 in the third period, the Philadelphia Flyers would extend their lead over the Tampa Bay Lightning to two with a goal from Flyers center
At 13:57 in the third period, the Philadelphia Flyers would extend their lead over the Tampa Bay Lightning to two with a goal from Flyers center Brayden Schenn. Giroux would pick up his second assist of the night while Wayne Simmonds would score his first point of the game with the secondary assist on the Schenn goal.
Less than a minute after the Schenn goal, the Tampa Bay Lightning finally get back into the game with a beautiful snap shot from Lightning center Vladislav Namestnikov. This served as Namestnikov’s 11th goal of the season and lessened the Flyers lead to a single goal.
Now, the Tampa Bay Lightning would have just over five minutes to mount an offensive effort and score at least one more goal to send this game to overtime, or two more if they wanted to come home with the win in regulation. Sadly, the Philadelphia Flyers would put the proverbial nail in the coffin of the Tampa Bay Lightning’s chances of winning when Wayne Simmonds hit the empty net to bring the score to 4-2.
The only player to really come up big tonight is Tampa Bay Lightning goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy. Vasilevskiy made 36 saves on 39 shots on goal, giving him a Save Percentage of .923. It’s not hard to see why this earned him the third star of the game despite the Lightning’s crushing loss.
As you can imagine, this was not the way the Tampa Bay Lightning needed or wanted when they kicked off their back-to-back series tonight against the Philadelphia Flyers. Regrettably, the Tampa Bay Lightning don’t have time to drown themselves in their sorrows. Tomorrow night, the Tampa Bay Lightning head home to the Amalie Arena to take on the Boston Bruins in their fourth and final meeting of the regular season.
If they thought the Philadelphia Flyers made them work, they are going to really be up a creek when it comes to a hard-hitting, forceful team like the Boston Bruins. The Tampa Bay Lightning has taken two of the three encounters between them and the Bruins this season, but anything can happen when a team plays the way the Tampa Bay Lightning did tonight.
The Tampa Bay Lightning are going to have to get their heads back in the game and have a strong offensive presence starting from the initial puck drop and continuing through all 60 minutes of hockey.
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What do you think the Tampa Bay Lightning need to do in order to spark their offense tomorrow against the Bruins back home at the Amalie Arena? Which player do you think the Lightning will look to for guidance? Let us know what you think in the comments below.