The Tampa Bay Lightning started their three-game swing through California with a 2-1 loss to the San Jose Sharks. For much of the night, the Lightning looked like a team that had traveled cross-country following a three-day break as they failed to sustain pressure in the offensive zone against one of the worst defensive teams in the league. Passes in the neutral zone and offensive zone were often just off the stick as they struggled to put together the type of transition play that often ignites their offense.
Andrei Vasilevskiy kept things close with 23 saves on 25 shots, including several point-blank chances. At the other end of the ice Yaroslav Askarov stopped 24 of 25 to pick up his second win of the season. Tyler Toffoli and Mario Ferraro provided the offense for San Jose while Anthony Cirelli had the lone goal for the Bolts.
It wasn’t a bad first period for the Lightning, but it was a ragged one. Plays developed, but the Lightning couldn’t finish them off as pucks were lost in skates or poked away by San Jose sticks. In other words, Tampa Bay looked like a team that hasn’t played competitive hockey for a few days.
On the other side of the ice, the Sharks looked like a team that was determined to end their losing streak. They were a little crisper with the puck, and had a little more determination to finish the plays. While the youthful line of Macklin Celebrini, Will Smith, and Collin Graf provided a lot of entertainment (Celebrini had a nice 360 spin in the offensive zone that resulted in a quality shot) it was veteran Tyler Toffoli who opened the scoring. He toe-dragged around Anthony Cirelli, and then fended off a back-check from Brandon Hagel before snapping his shot past Vasilevskiy.
Tyler Toffoli (Marc Eduard Vlasic, Jan Rutta) 1-0 Sharks
For the Lightning, they had a few chances, most notably Conor Geekie off of the rush, but couldn’t solve Yaroslav Askarov. The young netminder provided some nervous moments for the home fans as he wandered away from the net to chase the puck. At one point, Luke Glendening was looking at a wide-open net after Askarov gave the puck away, but he couldn’t pull the trigger in time to get the shot off before the defense collapsed around him.
Coach Cooper switched things up in the second period, reuniting the Kid Line as Geekie dropped down to center Gage Goncalves and Mitchell Chaffee. They generated a couple of looks at the net, including one that Askarov had to sprawl across the crease to stop. Chaffee escalated the tensions a bit as he buried Nikolai Kovalenko along the boards. Mario Ferraro took exception and had a brief dance with Chaffee that sent both of them to the box for fighting.
They would be joined by Emil Lilleberg and Luke Kunin a few moments later as the duo came together and slid into Vasilevskiy. Nothing came out of the four-on-four, nor on the ensuing power play for San Jose as Lilleberg was whistled for interference the moment he stepped out of the penalty box.
A power play for the Lightning saw them generate a lot of zone time, but no goals as their passing was just a spot off. Shortly after that, the Sharks doubled their lead off of a broken play. As in a broken stick making a play. Eyssimont brought the puck into the Sharks zone, but loses it to a piece of broken stick on the ice. San Jose brought it down the ice and Mario Ferraro recovered his own blocked pass to beat Vasilevskiy.
Mario Ferraro (Mikhail Granlund) 2-0 Sharks
With time winding down in the period, the Lightning needed a little spark, and it came on an innocent-looking play. The Bolts entered the zone and Erik Cernak directed a shot towards the net. Anthony Cirelli was drifting into the slot and looked over his shoulder at the right time to see the puck coming and he deflected it past Askarov for his 15th goal of the season.
Anthony Cirelli (Erik Cernak, Brandon Hagel) 2-1 Sharks
The momentum from the goal carried over into the third period as the Lightning finally started playing with a little urgency. Unfortunately, that didn’t necessarily translate into goals. Askarov made back-to-back quality saves on Nick Paul and then watched a rebound chance by Jake Guentzel slide just wide of the net on a Lightning power play.
On that power play, the Lightning lost the services of Victor Hedman, who was cut in the ear by a deflected puck in the neutral zone. Without him on the ice, the power play fizzled out. For a team that has struggled holding leads this season, the Sharks managed the clock pretty well in the third period as they controlled the front of the net and forced the puck out of their zone and down the ice.
Even with Andrei Vasilevskiy on the bench for the last two minutes of the game, the Bolts couldn’t sustain much pressure in the zone, with their final attempts at net getting blocked aside before reaching the goaltender. Time expired without them finding the tying goal as San Jose snapped their eight-game losing streak.
The Charts
