Tampa Bay Lightning Come Up Empty Against Canadiens

The Tampa Bay Lightning come up empty handed against the Montreal Canadiens on Thursday night against the Montreal Canadiens.

The Tampa Bay Lightning had a tough challenge in front of them as they charged into the Amalie Arena tonight. Battered and bruised, the Tampa Bay Lightning found themselves in a critical must-win situation as they prepared to take on their Atlantic Division foes, the Montreal Canadiens. Unfortunately, they would have to accomplish this feat without the assistance of one of their key defensemen, Anton Stralman.

As most of you know by now, Anton Stralman has been deemed out indefinitely as he sustained a non-displaced fracture of his left fibula on Friday night as the Tampa Bay Lightning battled the New York Islanders. On the bright side, there would be some good news on the injury front as the Lightning prepared for their battle with the Canadiens.

As game time approached, it would be announced that both alternate captain Ryan Callahan and right wing Nikita Kucherov would both be returning to the Tampa Bay Lightning lineup tonight. This is definitely good news for a team who is fighting to find themselves in a favorable position before the final buzzer sounds on the regular season and they make their way to the 2016 Stanley Cup Playoffs.

It was the Montreal Canadiens who set the pace early in tonight’s matchup, but thanks to the goaltending skills of one Ben Bishop, the Lightning would be able to keep the puck out of the back of the net. Fortunately for the Bolts, it didn’t take very long for them to fall into their groove and push back at the Canadiens.

The Tampa Bay Lightning would give up the first opportunity with the man advantage as Tyler Johnson would be sent to the sin bin for holding against Canadiens center David Desharnais. The Canadiens got a mere one shot on goal during the power play opportunity, but it was definitely a close call. Ben Bishop was able to absolutely rob Canadiens center Lars Eller in the final moments of the power play.

Unfortunately, even the best goaltenders get tested every once in a while. Just before the halfway point in the second period, Ben Bishop’s luck would wear out and the Montreal Canadiens would be able to strike first blood. Bishop turned away the first shot on goal; however, with Tyler Johnson caught on the wrong side of the play, Bishop had no chance of stopping the rebound by David Desharnais.

With just over two minutes left in the first period, the Tampa Bay Lightning would find themselves on their first power play of the evening as Canadiens defenseman Greg Pateryn would head to the penalty box for two minutes for Hooking Lightning left wing Ondrej Palat. Despite a few good chances in front of the Canadiens’ net, the Lightning were unable to capitalize on their opportunity.

When the final buzzer sounded to end the first period of play, the Tampa Bay Lightning would trail the Montreal Canadiens 1-0. Other than the notch on the scoreboard, there wasn’t much difference between these two teams in the first period. There was a lot of back and forth on the ice, but when it came down to it, the Lightning would outshoot the Canadiens 14-12 through the first 20 minutes of play.

If the Tampa Bay Lightning hoped to come out of this game with the victory and the much-needed two points, the Lightning would most certainly have to turn things up a notch or two when they took the ice for the second period of play.

Unfortunately, (don’t you hate when sentences continually start this way) the Montreal Canadiens are the ones who seemed to turn things up. Just 52 seconds into the second period, Canadiens center Torrey Mitchell would be able to crack the defense and make their way to the back of the net. This would give the Canadiens a 2-0 lead over the Tampa Bay Lightning early in the second period.

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Just before the halfway point in the second period, the Tampa Bay Lightning had an excellent opportunity to get on the board and make this a one-goal game. As he sped into the offensive zone, Ondrej Palat took a tremendous amount of abuse. Finally, the refs had enough and Palat was awarded a penalty shot. Despite his best efforts to make Mike Condon flinch, Palat went down low and Condon was able to make the save.

Despite being down two goals to the Montreal Canadiens, the Tampa Bay Lightning fans had not lost hope. The chant “Let’s Go Bolts!” continued to resound through the halls of the Amalie Arena.

The Tampa Bay Lightning kind of “got away with one” late in the second period. The Lightning would get a second chance on the power play as right wing Michael McCarron would be sent off for two minutes for high sticking against Ryan Callahan. Unfortunately, it was actually the stick of Slater Koekkoek who caught Callahan in the face, but it would be McCarron who would get the call.

The bad news is, the Tampa Bay Lightning didn’t “get away” with much as the Canadiens were able to withstand the offense of the Lightning during the penalty and the Bolts would once again come up empty handed on the man advantage.

When the buzzer would sound to end the second period of play, the Tampa Bay Lightning would continue to trail the Montreal Canadiens 2-0. Much like the first period of play, the Lightning would outshoot the Canadiens 9-6 for a two-period total of 23-18.

Now, the Lightning found themselves on the precipice of a do-or-die situation. There was now just 20 minutes of play between victory and defeat. If the Tampa Bay Lightning had any fire left in their souls, it would be time to strengthen the flames and make their move.

The Tampa Bay Lightning would find themselves with just over two minutes left in the game to get something done. So, the next logical move is to pull the goaltender, right? Sticking to tradition, Tampa Bay Lightning Head Coach Jon Cooper elected to pull Ben Bishop from the net in order to gain an extra attacker. Unfortunately, this quickly bit the Lightning in the behind as Habs center Phillip Danault found the back of the empty net.

As you can imagine, the empty net goal from Danault essentially hammered the final nail into the coffin of the Tampa Bay Lightning’s hopes of bringing home the two points in tonight’s Atlantic Division showdown.

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On paper, tonight’s encounter with the Montreal Canadiens looked like the same performance the Tampa Bay Lightning had on Monday night against the Toronto Maple Leafs. The one glaring difference between the two is the fact the Lightning found themselves on the short end of the stick.

Is this because the Montreal Canadiens have better goaltending than the Tampa Bay Lightning? Certainly not. Does this mean the Tampa Bay Lightning’s offense was somehow lacking in tonight’s effort. Well…yes and no. While the Tampa Bay Lightning gave themselves plenty of opportunities to make something happen, they simply weren’t able to convert their efforts into goals.

If this pattern is allowed to continue, this could bode very negatively for them as the Tampa Bay Lightning make their way to the postseason. It is entirely too late in the regular season for excuses and the Lightning will simply need to find consistency in the remaining five games this season, one of which will be against the Montreal Canadiens once more, or they are going to find themselves in a really precarious position.

The Tampa Bay Lightning has just one day off before they have to get back to business once again. On Saturday night, the Tampa Bay Lightning will take on the New Jersey Devils in their final game of their current six-game home stand. There are plenty of opportunities for things to change in the Atlantic Division between now and then, but if the Lightning want to remain viable, they will need to avoid another outcome like tonight.

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The puck is scheduled to drop at 7:30 p.m. EST on Saturday night at the Amalie Arena here in the Sunshine State. It’s time for those of us here in the Bolts Nation to buckle down and Be The Thunder for our Tampa Bay Lightning as they fight to remain at the top of the Atlantic Division and earn themselves a repeat visit to the Stanley Cup Playoffs.