“We’ve got to get better.”
Ryan McDonagh summed it up pretty well following the Tampa Bay Lightning’s 4-1 loss to the Chicago Blackhawks on Tuesday night. Brayden Point scored early, but they couldn’t capitalize on the copious amount of chances they generated, and Chicago was able to tie the game on a gorgeous goal from Connor Bedard. They took the lead on the power play in the second period, and then extended it with a Ryan Donato goal midway through the third period before Teuvo Teravainen sealed it with an empty net goal late.
With some fresh faces in the line-up with Gage Goncalves and Declan Carlile taking to the ice, the Lightning came out playing with a lot of pace. Less than a minute into the game Point had a solid look from the slot, but Arvid Soderblom made the stop. A couple of minutes later Brandon Hagel rang one off the post, and it looked like Chicago would be under siege for the night.
Point did give them the lead on almost the identical play that he was stopped on early. Nikita Kucherov circled from behind the net and hit Point, who was streaking through the slot at the right time. On the next shift Anthony Cirelli had a chance to double the lead, but, much like our drives off the tee, he pulled it right of the net. At that point, that “uh oh, here we go again” feeling started to bubble up inside Lightning fans.
They generated some more chances on a power play with just over seven minutes to go in the first period, but it was more of the same as Mitchell Chaffee’s shot from the slot was swallowed up by Soderblom. Just after the power play Nick Paul was alone in front, sent in by a nice pass from Goncalves, but couldn’t beat the goaltender.
Old friend Pat Maroon handed the Lightning a golden opportunity as he took a double-minor after he boarded Luke Glendening and was whistled for unsportsmanlike conduct for trying to goad him into a fight. In hindsight, this was a turning point in the game. Make Chicago pay for their reckless penalties and go into the locker room with a multi-goal lead. That was the plan, but the crossbar had other ideas as Chaffee’s shot from Steven Stamkos’ office rang off the iron and stayed out.
Instead of a two-goal lead, the Lightning were a bad bounce away from a tie game. They came out pressing in the second period but couldn’t find the back of the net. Kucherov had back-to-back opportunities that Soderblom denied just before the all-world skater picked up a slashing penalty. The Lightning compounded their struggles when Erik Cernak decided he was going to staple Teuvo Teravainen to the boards regardless of if he had the puck or not. The interference penalty led to an extended 5-on-3 for the Blackhawks.
Despite being pinned in their own zone for almost the entire penalty kill, the Lightning almost pulled it off. Kucherov was out of the box and the seconds were ticking away on Cernak’s penalty when Bedard unleashed a shot on his off-wing that snuck over Jonas Johansson’s shoulder and behind his helmet to tie the game.
The Lightning got a little loose with the puck in the second period, and while Chicago wasn’t peppering them with shots, the turnovers and bad passes nullified any sense of offensive flow for the Lightning. Were they gripping the sticks a little tight at this point? For sure, but it was their decision-making with the puck that eventually led to the go-ahead goal for Chicago.
Darren Raddysh was shaken up behind the Chicago net and struggled to get off the ice as the Blackhawks tried to push the puck up ice to take advantage. The breakout pass went awry and was collected by Victor Hedman. The Big Swede tried to force a pass through the neutral zone to Kucherov at the far blueline, but Landon Slaggert easily picked it off. He fed it up to Lukas Reichel and then took the drop-pass back before beating Johansson, who was subbing for an ill Andrei Vasilevskiy, on the glove side.
The Lightning found themselves in a position they’ve been in far too many times over the last month. They had played well enough to have a lead, but an inability to finish off their chances had them chasing the score as they headed into the third period. The last time they faced the Blackhawks, they utterly dominated the third period and were able to to squeak out an overtime victory.
On paper it looked good again as they out-chanced Chicago 15-5, and put up an 8-2 advantage in high-danger chances, but the puck gods remained against them as Hedman’s stick broke on an open, back-door look, and Nick Paul saw a golden chance tick off of Soderblom’s glove and then mask before staying out of the net.
Chicago all but ended things eight minutes into the period when Ryan Donato converted a rebound off of a Seth Jones shot to make it 3-1.
It looked like the Lightning would have a power play with six minutes to go when Bedard took an unnecessary tripping call in the Lightning zone, but Mikey Eyssimont evened things up with an even more unnecessary hit on Bedard that evened things up.
The Lightning pressured the Chicago net over the final few minutes but couldn’t find the back of the net before Teravainen eventually flung in an empty-netter from distance. Tampa Bay finished the night with 36 scoring chances, but just one goal, and for yet another night made the opposing goalie look like vintage Martin Broudeur in net.
They’ll welcome in the Los Angeles Kings on Thursday, and try to find a way to snap out of their current funk.
The Goals
Brayden Point (Nikita Kucherov, Jake Guentzel) 1-0 Lightning
Conor Bedard (Seth Jones, Nick Foligno) Power Play, 1-1
Landon Slaggert (Lukas Reichel) 2-1 Chicago
Ryan Donato (Seth Jones, Phillip Kurashev) 3-1 Chicago
Teuvo Teravainen (Jason Dickenson) Empty Net, 4-1 Chicago