Tampa Bay Lightning Smothered By Penalties In Loss To Pittsburgh Penguins
The Tampa Bay Lightning allowed a string of unnecessary penalties lead to their undoing against the reigning Stanley Cup Champions, the Pittsburgh Penguins.
The Tampa Bay Lightning have been desperately searching for the fire that would ignite the fire in their souls and get the Lightning back on track and winning games. At one point it seemed as if the Bolts had found that fire tonight against the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Unfortunately, one bad penalty after another and suddenly the lead the Lightning held in the second period would go up in flames faster than a match in a gasoline refinery. Once again, the Tampa Bay Lightning would find themselves on the losing end of the stick and desperately searching for answers.
It all started in the first period. The Lightning struggled to find any sort of offense against the reigning Stanley Cup Champions. In fact, through the first 12 minutes of the game, the Lightning was successfully outshot 13-3. Needless to say, this is not how a team who wants to score goals and win games plays.
Tampa Bay Lightning
Unfortunately, it was only a matter of seconds before the Penguins would open up the scoring. It was Pens captain Sidney Crosby who would put the puck in the back of the net to give the Penguins the early lead.
Time continued to tick off the clock and it was becoming quickly apparent the Lightning would be headed into the first intermission down a goal. Then suddenly, a door appeared. A door that would soon be slammed shut by a certain Jonathan Drouin.
The Penguins were attempting to play the puck in the Lightning’s zone. Unfortunately, as Penguins forward Evgeni Malkin attempted to make a shot on goal he lost his balance and began falling to the ice.
Completely unaware of where his stick was headed, Malkin’s stick came flying up and absolutely nailed Jonathan Drouin in the face. Before anyone had any idea what was going on, blood was already dripping from Drouin’s face. While the Penguins would attempt to plead their case to the refs, blood doesn’t lie.
Needless to say, this would earn Malkin a one-way ticket to the sin bin for four minutes for high sticking Drouin. This would open the aforementioned door.
Drouin immediately made his way to the bench where he would be attended by Lightning Head Athletic Trainer Tom Mulligan. It was only a matter of moments before Drouin had his situation under control and was already on the ice making moves. Then…it happened.
Jonathan Drouin would position himself on the left side of the ice where he would receive a pass from Lightning defenseman Anton Stralman. Drouin wasted no time in pulling back his stick and firing off a shot that would beat Penguins netminder Matt Murray and sail into the back of the net, tying things up for the Lightning.
Drouin’s power play goal definitely seemed like the spark the Lightning had been so desperately searching for. When the Lightning took the ice for the second period of play, it wasn’t long until Lightning would strike once again. This time, it would be Lightning forward Valtteri Filppula who would find the back of the net.
At the halfway point in the second period, it would be Jonathan Drouin who would pick up his second goal of the evening with assists from Lightning defenseman Jason Garrison and forward Vladislav Namestnikov.
It was almost too good to be true. The Tampa Bay Lightning were leading the reigning Stanley Cup Champions 3-1 heading into the second half of the second period. Unfortunately, this is where things started to spiral out of control and eventually proved to be the undoing of the Lightning and their two-goal lead over the Penguins.
At 15:52 in the second, Lightning defenseman Andrej Sustr would find himself headed to the penalty box for Holding Penguins forward Tom Kuhnhackl. This opened the door and cleared the path for Evgeni Malkin to capitalize on the man advantage and bring the game within one goal.
On the bright side, the Lightning would continue to hold the lead heading into the second intermission. Regrettably, once the Lightning and the Penguins took the ice for the third period of play, things went from bad to worse for the once-leading Tampa Bay Lightning.
Just 1:57 into the third period, both Lightning forward Alex Killorn and Penguins defenseman Trevor Daley would be sent to the box for off-setting penalties. Killorn would be headed off for Holding the Stick while Daley would head off for Slashing. This created a four-on-four situation for the Bolts and Pens.
Unfortunately, just as those off-setting penalties were about to come to an end, the Lightning found themselves with yet another player headed to the very warm seat in the sin bin. This time, it would be Lightning defenseman Nikita Nesterov who would get the call to the sin bin for high sticking Penguins d-man Ian Cole.
Nesterov’ second penalty of the night created the power play opportunity the Penguins needed for Sidney Crosby to bury his second goal of the night to tie things up for the Penguins. The bad news is, this isn’t the last time an ill-timed penalty would backfire in the Lightning’s faces.
Just before the halfway point in the period, Tampa Bay Lightning defenseman Braydon Coburn would get whistled for Hooking against Penguins forward Carl Hagelin. At the same time, on the other side of the ice, Lightning forward Cedric Paquette and Penguins defenseman Ian Cole would drop the gloves and get it on.
The bad news here is, once again, the Tampa Bay Lightning ended up with the short end of the stick. In addition to the penalty to Coburn, Cole would get five for fighting while Cedric Paquette would get five for fighting in addition to a 10 minute misconduct. Needless to say, this was the end of Paquette’s night.
Unfortunately, it would also open the door for Evgeni Malkin to put the final nail in the coffin of the Bolts hopes and dreams. When the final buzzer would sound, in addition to another scuffle, the Lightning would fall 4-3 to the Pittsburgh Penguins.
The Lightning have been searching for answers as to why they find themselves in their current position. Well…after tonight’s performance, those reasons are becoming increasingly clear. The Tampa Bay Lightning simply must find a way to stay out of the penalty box.
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One of the biggest offenders tonight was Lightning defenseman Nikita Nesterov, who found himself in the penalty box twice tonight. While Nesterov did make it to the scoresheet with an assist on Valtteri Filppula’s goal in the second period, he came up empty in blocked shots and came up with one giveaway.
Also, it was Nesterov’s penalty that provided the man advantage Sidney Crosby used in order to tie things up for the Penguins in the third period. If the Lightning can’t hold strong on the penalty kill, then the only answer is for them to stay out of the box; something we here at Bolts By The Bay have been screaming at the top of our lungs for quite some time now.
Now, the Tampa Bay Lightning have three days off in order to make an attempt to collect themselves, shrug off the loss, and continue the search for the spark necessary to pull them out of the seemingly never-ending rut the Lightning have found themselves in as of late.
On Wednesday, the Lightning will head north to take on the Calgary Flames at the Scotiabank Saddledome in Calgary. From there, they will complete their three-game road trip through Canada with stops to face off with the Vancouver Canucks and the Edmonton Oilers.
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The action is set to kick off on Wednesday at 9:30 p.m. EST from the Scotiabank Saddledome in Calgary. Hopefully, not only can the Lightning do some more healing on this break, but they can find what it is that truly ails them and get back to scoring goals and winning games the way Lightning fans know they can.