Tampa Bay Lightning Recap: Bolts Seven-Game Point Streak Comes To An End

The Tampa Bay Lightning’s seven-game point streak has come to an end as they fall 3-2 to the Calgary Flames at the Amalie Arena in Tampa.

The Tampa Bay Lightning knew when they made their way into the Amalie Arena tonight they would have to bring their ‘A’ game if they wanted to bring home the two points against the Calgary Flames. Both teams are battling for a spot in the postseason, and the time has come where every single point matters.

The Lightning got off to a really good start in the first period. If you were looking solely at the shots on goal, you wouldn’t think the Tampa Bay Lightning was the ones in the lead, but alas, this was indeed the case. Just over the six-minute mark in the first Vladislav Namestnikov would get a piece of a shot from Braydon Coburn and open up the scoring for the Bolts.

Unfortunately, this is where things would start to take a wrong turn for the Bolts. By the end of the first period, it seemed as if the Lightning had already taken their feet off the gas. The Bolts were playing apprehensively, and the Flames could clearly see their opening.

Tampa Bay Lightning

While the Lightning was fairly dominate in the Faceoff Circle during the first period, the tide quickly turned on the ice allowing the Flames to outshoot the Bolts 8-5 in the first. At the same time, we would be remiss in our duties if we didn’t say how exciting the first period was.

There was a lot of back-and-forth action between both these teams, which made for a very fast-paced period.

As the Lightning made their way to the locker room for the first intermission, many Bolts fans hoped when the team hit the ice for the second period of play, they would be able to regain some of the momentum they had in the early moments of the first period. Unfortunately, it was the exact opposite scenario that played out.

In under a minute in a half, the Flames would battle back with not one, but two unanswered goals within a mere minute and thirty seconds of one another. The first goal was accredited to Mikael Backlund while the second would be attributed to Sean Monahan. This would all but entirely throw the Bolts off their game.

Much like the first 20 minutes of play, the Lightning would be outshot 10-7 by the Flames for a two-period total of 18-12. On a more positive note, the Lightning continued to control the Faceoff Circle, but they simply couldn’t translate their faceoff success into a goal.

There was one moment in particular Lightning fans would’ve hoped would spark the team. Tampa Bay Lightning defenseman Jake Dotchin made his presence known in front of the net where he would get into a bit of a brawl with Lance Bouma. Unfortunately, the Lightning simply couldn’t find their legs tonight.

When the Lightning took the ice for the third period of play, it almost looked as if they were asleep at the wheel. The Lightning was held from making any sort of offense against the Flames for the first part of the period and when they finally did awaken, it was a classic case of “too little, too late.”

The Flames would find themselves with a Power Play opportunity late in the third period as Alex Killorn headed to the sin bin for Tripping against Mikael Backlund. This opened the door for Dougie Hamilton to capitalize on the Power Play and extend the Flames lead to two.

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The Tampa Bay Lightning seemed to spring to life in the final moments of the third period. With less than two minutes left in the third period, Nikita Kucherov would capitalize on the Lightning’s third Power Play opportunity of the night to shorten the Flames’ lead to a single goal.

Unfortunately, this proved to be a classic case of “too little, too late.” When the final buzzer sounded, the Tampa Bay Lightning would fall 3-2 to the Calgary Flames. This would put an abrupt end to the Lightning’s seven-game point streak, and leave them scratching and clawing for a playoff spot.

There are many reasons as to why the Lightning came up short tonight. One of them is obvious, and the other is ever-so-slightly less obvious. Let us begin by discussing the team’s lack of effort. The Lightning started out the game on fire, but as the time continued to tick off the clock, the Bolts consistently let off the gas.

This is something a team simply cannot do when they are fighting for a spot in the postseason. Yes, injuries have impacted the team this season, but there comes a point when the time for excuses has come and gone. The Lightning reached this point over a month ago. Something simply has to give.

The second issue we have with tonight’s game is the fact Lightning Head Coach Jon Cooper elected to sit Lightning netminder Ben Bishop tonight in lieu of Andrei Vasilevskiy. Now, this is not a knock at the skills of Andrei Vasilevskiy. This is more a questioning of Coach Cooper’s train of thought.

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Why in the world would you put all this kind of pressure on a goaltender like Vasilevskiy who has admittedly had a mental block this season when you have a goaltender like Ben Bishop who has been incredibly hot as of late who is ready to make the big saves and can compensate for the team’s lack of effort in most situations?

As the old saying goes, “if it’s not broke, don’t fix it.” This could definitely apply to the situation here. We could go on for hours about this particular subject, but this is another story for another day.

After tonight’s 3-2 loss to the Calgary Flames, the Lightning has three days off before they get back down to business on Monday night against the Ottawa Senators. This is going to be an incredibly important game for the Bolts. Bringing home the two points is always important, but it’s doubly important against a Divisional team.

The Tampa Bay Lightning is currently six points out of a playoff position. Considering the fact their next opponent, the Ottawa Senators, is not only in their division but in second place in said division, bringing home the two points means more than one could possibly imagine.

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Here’s hoping the short break gives the Lightning the time they need to get their heads back in the game and be ready to come at the Senators with everything they have. With just 22 games left in the season, the time for Bolts to make their move is upon them.