Game 79: Tampa Bay at the New York Islanders

The Tampa Bay Lightning lost to the New York Islanders 3-1.

Is it just me, or does it seem like the worse the officiating gets, the longer the games end up being?

This was the Lightning sixth loss in a row, and their ninth loss in their last ten games. The worst part isn't all of the losses or all of the injuries. It's the fact that they've actually played good games but have not been able to win them. Four of those losses were in overtime, after all.

This game against the Islanders is a good example of that. They actually out shot the Islanders 30-21, and put up a good sustained effort most of the game. But they weren't able to score more than one.

Special teams were about average. They converted one of their three power plays, but allowed two goals on five penalty kills. Along with that, they also took those penalties which gave the Islanders those power plays. And faceoffs, while better than the previous game, weren't that great overall.

Martins Karsums had a good game. He seemed really into things. Of course, his six penalty minutes weren't exactly great, but you take the good with the bad, I guess. Matt Pettinger had a good game as well. Steven Stamkos started and ended strong, but then sort of disappeared for the middle part of the game. So it wasn't the usual characters that really ran the game on the Lightning side.