5 Takeaways from the Lightning’s Loss in Ottawa

The Tampa Bay Lightning ended a dominant road trip in a not so dominant way, losing to the Ottawa Senators 4-0. This is the first time this season that the Lightning have been shut out, scoring in every other game at least once.

It’s not all bad though, and we will go over why, but there was a lot of bad that was seen on Saturday. With such a bad loss, what are some things that fans noticed?

1. Elliott Needs to be Better

Brian Elliott has shown that he is not nearly as good as he was years before, which is not surprising with his age. But the play today was not great, to say the least. If the Lightning don’t want to risk anything, they need to make sure Elliott can step up to the task of being a reliable backup goaltender. If Andrei Vasilevskiy gets injured, it’s up to Elliott to step it up and win games for the Lightning. On Saturday, Elliot made just 19 saves on 22 shots (.864 sv%)

2. This Was Bound to Happen

Every team will get shut out at least once during the season, and it always seems to happen against the struggling teams. This wasn’t anyone’s doing on the Lightning, it was just a bad game in general. This is not something Lightning fans should have to worry about. Not to also mention that the Lightning were also on quite the winning streak, winning five games in a row. A loss was bound to happen, especially at the end of a grueling stretch.

3. Offensive Flaws Were Shown

With no Nikita Kucherov, Brayden Point, and Anthony Cirelli in the lineup, lots of flaws have been exposed in our depth. The Lightning can’t rely on depth players all the time, it doesn’t work like that, but scoring flaws and offensive pressure flaws have shown.

4. Bogosian and Cernak are More Important Than Fans Originally Thought

Zach Bogosian and Erik Cernak were both out of the lineup Saturday. With two depth players having to play increased roles to replace these two, fans have seen just how important these two are to the team. Without them, the defense would not be nearly as good as it is, and once these two come back, the defense will be on fire yet again.

5. Kucherov and Point Need to Come Back Soon

Nikita Kucherov has been out since he was injured in the third game of the season, and Point has been out since the Lightning faced the Devils late last month. The offense has slowly been struggling since these two have been out. Both are expected to return in early January, so let’s hope that nothing gets delayed. Until then, the Lightning will continue to have to rely on their organizational depth in order to keep pace in the Atlantic Division.