The very first shot Matt Tomkins faced in the NHL came mere seconds into the game. It was flipped in from almost center ice by Vladimir Tarasenko and the rookie calmly covered it. That would be the easiest save of his night. In his debut, the 29-year-old netminder faced 37 shots (17 of them in the first period), turning aside 33 of them, but fell to 0-1 in his career as the Lightning struggled to a 5-2 loss against the Ottawa Senators.
After their loss to the Detroit Red Wings on Saturday night, they lamented the turnovers and bad plays that led to their loss, vowing to improve their play in the second part of their weekend back-to-back. While they may have been slightly better in the turnover department, for much of the night it was the young players of the Ottawa Senators that dictated the pace of play. Brady Tkachuk, who circles the Lightning games every calendar year knowing he’ll likely score in them, potted not one, but two. Tim Stutzle added a goal as did old friend Mathieu Joseph. The veteran free agent signing, Vladimir Tarasenko added a goal and an assist as well.
The less-than-positive vibes started slightly before puck drop as the team announced that franchise icon Steven Stamkos would miss the game due to a lower-body injury. That led to an intensive reshuffling of the second, third, and fourth lines as Austin Watson and Alex Barre-Boulet were pressed into action. Whether it was the lack of continuity or just a lack of focus, the Lightning were behind the eight-ball early and often in the first period.
A dedicated forecheck by the Ottawa forwards kept the action in the Lightning zone for a dipropionate amount of time leading to a shot clock that was tilted 17-3 in favor of the home team. Scoring chances, high-danger chances, shot attempts – all of them were wildly in Ottawa’s favor and there had to be almost a sense of relief that the Lightning were only down 1-0 (compliments of a goal from Tarasenko) after 20 minutes of play.
We’ve seen many a game where the Bolts would dominate on the stat line only to have a meager one-goal lead dissipate in the second period. On Sunday night, they flipped the script a bit as Anthony Cirelli tied things up less than a minute into the middle frame. They were pulling themselves together a bit and battling their way back into things.
However, Brady Tkachuk, who entered the night with 8 goals and 13 points in 13 career games against the Lightning was up to old tricks. It was a bit of a bad break for the Bolts as Darren Raddysh blocked his initial shot with his skate, but instead of ricocheting harmlessly away, it went right back to Tkachuk who calmly slid it under Tomkins before the goaltender could reset.
With some of their top-end scoring talent sitting in the press box, the Lightning tried to grind things out and it was Tanner Jeannot who provided a flicker of life as he tapped in a game-tying goal from in front of the net at the 13-minute mark.
It looked like they might make it to the intermission tied, which, after their first period and their struggles in the second period as a whole, would feel like a win. Unfortunately, it wasn’t to be. Nick Perbix attempted to reverse a pass back behind his own net to his defensive partner, but he failed to realize that Tarasenko was lurking. Before he finished uttering an expletive, Perbix could only watch as Tarasenko sent the puck to Joseph who roofed it into the top corner for his second goal of the year.
Tampa Bay would try to find the equalizer in the third, but all of their efforts were swatted aside by Korpisalo, who finished with 22 saves on 24 shots. When Tkachuk took a stretch pass along the boards, turned Raddysh and beat Tomkins for his second goal of the night, it was pretty obvious that it would not be the Lightning’s night. Tim Stutzle salted the win away for the Senators with an empty-net goal.
The loss of Stamkos loomed over the whole game and was apparent on the very first power play. With the number one unit on the ice, the Lightning had possession and Nikita Kucherov ripped one of his classic cross-ice passes to Stamkos’ office. Brandon Hagel, a left-handed shot had to stop it and pivot to get a shot on ice. That allowed the Senators to close down and block the shot. Had Stamkos been there it’s a one-timer that is much harder to block.
Still, a reshuffled second line with Cirelli, Jeannot, and Mikey Eyssimont was the best trio the Lightning sent out as they accounted for both goals and 7 scoring chances while being the only line to be above water in terms of possession. In particular, the top line of Brandon Hagel, Brayden Point, and Nikita Kucherov had a rough night as they posted just 33% of the shot attempts while they were on the ice and surrendered 9 scoring chances.
The Lightning have a day off and then head to Buffalo to finish off the road trip on Tuesday. Even with a win, it will feel like they left points on the board early in the season.
The Lines
The Goals
Vladimir Tarasenko (Ridly Greg, Jakub Chychrun) 1-0 Senators
Anthony Cirelli (Darren Raddysh, Tanner Jeannot) 1-1
Brady Tkachuk (Claude Giroux, Tim Stutzle) 2-1 Senators
Tanner Jeannot (Mikey Eyssimont, Victor Hedman) 2-2
Mathieu Joseph (Vladimir Tarasenko) 3-2 Senators
Brady Tkachuk (Jake Sanderson, Artem Zub) 4-2 Senators
Tim Stutzle (Brady Tkachuk, Joonas Korpisalo) Empty Net 5-2 Senators
