Game 26: Tampa Bay Lightning at Boston Bruins

The Tampa Bay Lightning lost to the Boston Bruins 8-1.

The problems with this game can be boiled down into four issues:

The defense wasn’t that great. The one big failing the Lightning have had this season is their defense. Giving up two shorthanded goals in the same power play earlier in the season wasn’t one of their most stellar moments. And while they’ve improved since then, it’s been very incrementally. You can’t blame the goaltending entirely with allowing eight goals in one game.
No one was blocking shots. The total number of blocked shots for the Lightning in this game was 10, and three of those were by Pavel Kubina. This team has blocked more than 10 shots in a period on a regular basis. That was a big reason why shots were getting through to Mike Smith.

Mike Smith obviously didn’t have the best game of his life. There were two goals that were obviously his fault that he should’ve had. That one shot from the blue line that went in early in the game was just bad.

Still, having said that, it’s not as if he was getting a lot of help from his teammates, either. (See: blocked shots above, as well as the score.)

The final problem was that Tim Thomas was great. It’s hard to score on a hot goaltender, after all. And he was pretty hot.

Statistically, the Lightning didn’t have a bad night – other than scoring goals and blocking shots. On paper, it wasn’t a bad game, actually. But on the scoreboard is was, and that’s the bottom line.

The Lightning’s next game is December 4th at the St. Pete Times Forum against the Colorado Avalanche. Game time is at 7:30 pm Eastern. The Raw Charge game thread opens up for business at 7 pm, so stop in and say hi if you’re not attending the game.

Talking Points