For the first time all season, the Tampa Bay Lightning have now lost back-to-back games in regulation. It took nearly 60 games, but the Lightning dropped their second straight, falling 4-1 to a very strong Calgary Flames team.
Tampa Bay showed much better effort than they did for most of the game Tuesday night in Winnipeg. What hurt them tonight were some of the smaller details of the game that ended up making a big difference. The Lightning can be encouraged that this was a better performance than some they have been putting forth in recent outings.
So how did it happen?
1. Getting Behind Early Again
The poor starts of late have been well documented. The Lightning actually got off to a decent start in the opening minutes of this game, but their momentum was broken up by surrendering two penalties in the opening eight minutes. Calgary took the early lead on the second penalty as Tampa Bay conceded the opening goal for the sixth time in their last seven games.
#tblightning have given up first goal in six of last seven games
— Joe Smith (@JoeSmithNHL) March 11, 2022
2. The Final Minute of the Second
The most important moments of the period are the first and last minutes of the period. After Alex Killorn tied the game at one late in the second period, the Lightning conceded twice in the final minute of the frame. The Flames struck twice as the period ended including taking a 3-1 lead with eight seconds until the intermission. Tampa Bay was right there in this one, but that final minute of the period really was a back breaker.
That one was a gut-punch for #tblightning, giving up two goals in final minute, including one with eight seconds left, to take 3-1 lead heading into intermission
— Joe Smith (@JoeSmithNHL) March 11, 2022
3. Johnny Hockey
It has been a big year for the Calgary Flames and their resurgent superstar Johnny Gaudreau has had an exceptional season. His play has pushed the Flames to another level this season and his hat-trick in this game pushed the Flames past the Lightning. Two of Gaudreau’s goals came by shooting the puck from behind the goal line and banking it off Andrei Vasilevskiy. It is tough to beat the best goalie on the planet, but Gaudreau had Vasilevskiy’s number in this one and went to school on him from down low.
4. Turnovers are a Killer
Like mentioned before, Tampa Bay had some much better play in this one from recent games. One of the smaller aspects of their game that killed them tonight and periodically over this rough patch has been turnovers. Calgary’s offensive pressure forced a defensive zone turnover that led to their go-ahead goal in the final minute of the second period. It’s hard to beat a team playing as well as Calgary did, especially if you are providing them with extra scoring chances.
5. Reason for Concern?
You’ve got to be pretty spoiled when your team losing two games in a row is raising some eyebrows, especially when it’s the first time all year. Without question the Lightning are going through a bit of a rough patch, but struggles are unavoidable over an 82-game season. It isn’t supposed to be easy. As long as the effort continues to be there, the results won’t be too far behind with this team.
Steven Stamkos: “We’ve talked internally on what we know we have to do. These are little adverse moments throughout a season. I mean, it’s nothing to panic about.”
— Joe Smith (@JoeSmithNHL) March 11, 2022