At the conclusion of a long, winding five game, 10 day road trip, the Tampa Bay Lightning displayed fight and toughness in the Mile High City. Unfortunately, they couldn’t get out of their own way enough during a tough middle frame. The result ended up being a disappointing 5-4 loss to the Colorado Avalanche.
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Ondrej Palat, he of the hot hand, got things started by beating Avs goaltender Semyon Varlamov nearly 11 minutes in. It was his third goal in the past two games, as he keyed the Lightning’s come-from-behind victory over the Arizona Coyotes 24 hours ago.
Five minutes later, a turnover in the neutral zone gave Colorado an odd-man rush. Gabriel Landeskog passed to 2014 Calder Trophy winner Nathan MacKinnon who was able to squeak a bad angle shot past rookie netminder Andrei Vasilevskiy. That knotted things up at one apiece after 20 minutes.
In the middle frame, the Bolts reverted back to their usual, not-so-wonderful hockey. Turnovers leading to goals and within seconds a 1-1 deadlock had turned into a 3-1 Avalanche lead.
MacKinnon scored his second of the night, third against the Lightning this season, off a perfect pass from Ryan O’Reilly. Then, 29 seconds later, a defensive zone giveaway led to Matt Duchene walking in all alone and easily beating Vasilevskiy.
Tyler Johnson pulled the Lightning within one two minutes later, pouncing on a Nikita Kucherov rebound and firing it by Varlamov. 3-2 and you felt like a comeback was close.
Sadly, that never came to fruition with MacKinnon completing his first career hat trick at the 12:50 mark of period 2. O’ Reilly received the only assist, his second of the night, and the Lightning faced yet another two goal deficit.
With 20 minutes remaining on their most challenging road trip this season, the Bolts came out ready to give it their all in an attempt to salvage at least one point.
Colorado had other plans though. Ex-Lightning winger Alex Tanguay burned his former team, giving the Avs a commanding 5-2 lead. Ironically enough, his tally also turned out to be the game-winner.
Midway through the final frame, after Brian Boyle fought Avalanche tough guy Cody McLeod, the Lightning found a spark.
Brett Connolly scored his 12th of the season, batting down a Valtteri Filppula pass and then beating Varlamov. 5-3 and the Bolts were beginning to feel it from a confidence standpoint.
From then on, the Lightning dictated play. That resulted in some top-notch chances, with an Anton Stralman shot making its way through a maze of bodies but not past Varlamov.
Nikita Kucherov scored, making it 5-4 with 1:02 left in the game and Vasilevskiy pulled for the extra attacker. That was all, however, as the Bolts late push to tie fell a bit short.
I don’t know about you, but the Tampa Bay Lightning seemed ripe to be beat. They were on the back end of their second set of back-to-back games in the past week, having played in Phoenix Saturday night, and also found themselves at the end of a grueling, close to two week road trip through three different states. There’s little doubt they were tired, fatigued and ready to come home.
Keeping that in mind, they did well in collecting six of a possible 10 points. Did they want more? Sure, but considering the caliber of teams they mainly played a winning record is certainly something to be proud of.
Now, the Lightning get to go home, rest and regroup before hosting Patrick Kane, Jonathan Toews and the Stanley Cup favorite Chicago Blackhawks on Friday night, February 27. Puck drop’s set for 7:30 p.m.
What do you think of the Tampa Bay Lightning’s 5-4 loss to the Colorado Avalanche? Which areas of the game need work before the Blackhawks come to town? Let us know your thoughts in the comment section below.
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