For the record, Coach Jon Cooper isn’t worried about the team right now. Yes, he acknowledges that they’re not playing well, but he’s confident that the team will figure it out. For 55 games or so this has been a tough defensive team that makes opponents work for every goal. Right now that’s not happening and the Minnesota loss was a microcosm of the losing streak.
They gifted the Wild a stretch of power plays that ended with a Mats Zuccarello power play goal to make it 2-0. Then Andrei Vasilevskiy fumbles covering a puck that allowed Yakov Trenin to score his easiest goal of the season. Remove those two goals and it’s a 1-1 game in the third period.
Unfortunately, that’s not how hockey works, and the Lightning’s losing streak expanded to three in a row. All three games have had similar rhythms to them. Whether it’s the early deficits or the lack of execution, they’ve been repeating the same mistakes on a nightly basis. When that happens against good teams, bad things are going to happen.
“We really didn’t have a lot of winning habits in our game,” is how Ryan McDonagh put it after the game and he followed that up with, “you look for answers, but sometimes you have to look within yourself, and us a team, we have to work through this year and get back to winning habits. We’ve proven we can do it, and it’s a matter of digging deep and starting to build something here.”
As the veteran clubhouse leader put it, the Bolts have proven they can do it this year. Every test of adversity so far this season, be it a slow start, a rugged schedule, an avalanche of injuries, has been met and overcome. Based on their recent history, this should be just another challenge they can rise to.
It would be nice if there was a sense of urgency. While they are still fine in the overall playoff picture, their grip on the top of the division is weakening. The loss, coupled with yet another Buffalo win, has cut their lead to just two points. Yes, they still have two games in hand over the Sabres, but in order for that to be an advantage a team has to actually, you know, win those games.
McDonagh and Coach Jon Cooper both talked about moving on with the head coach stating, “Bottom line is we have to end this now. We can’t let this slide continue. I’m confident they will.”
The first goal allowed by the Lightning sums up the funk they are in defensively right now as they’re struggling to maintain their proper coverage. It wasn’t just one breakdown that led to the goal, but a couple.
It starts with Nikita Kucherov and Brandon Hagel unable to clear the puck. From there Anthony Cirelli and Erik Cernak do a decent job of pushing the play out of the center of the ice and behind the net, but now the Bolts get caught puck-watching a bit. Kucherov is tying up his man in front of the net, but Hagel is slow to recognize Brock Faber creeping in from the point into the shooting lane.
Victor Hedman leaves the post to try and block the pass from Marcus Johansson and isn’t able to. That allows Faber to walk in and wrist it past Andrei Vasilevskiy. As Minnesota starts to celebrate the Lightning are looking around on the ice as if confused by what happened. That’s usually an indication that someone blew an assignment somewhere.
During the winning streak, these types of goals weren’t happening. The coverage was tight, which allowed teammates to cover for each other should a mistake happen. This isn’t something that is specific to the Lightning. All teams go through these types of funks, and the good teams are the ones that can figure it out quickly and keep the three-game losing streak from turning into a five or six game one.
The Bolts will be back on the ice practicing before heading out to Winnipeg today. Getting back to their basics will likely be a big focus for them as they look to stem the tide of losses.
Other Hockey News
TRAAAAAADDDDDDDEEESSS [Hockey Wilderness Knights on Ice]
The Nashville Predators kicked off their selling spree by dealing a couple of forwards. No, not the ones everyone has been talking about, but a couple of fourth line forwards. Michael McCarron went to Minnesota for a 2028 second-round pick and Cole Smith went to Vegas for a 2028 third-round pick. For a brief moment (at least long enough for us to draft a post that will never see the light of day) the Lightning were rumored to be the destination for Smith.
Lightning hit by curse in Minnesota, but result was self-inflicted [Lightning Insider]
Ahh…the Curse of Dan Cloutier. A theory proposed by Eric Erlendsson to explain the Bolts struggles in Minnesota. In short, back in 2000, the Lightning were down by a goal. Head coach swapped Dan Cloutier in for Kevin Weekes late in a game with the Lightning trailing 5-4. The rational was that Cloutier was a better skater and could get off the ice for the extra attacker faster. Cloutier goes into net, and is eventually pulled. With the net empty Minnesota scores to make it 6-4. The Bolts make it 6-5 with a late goal, but Cloutier, who never faced a shot ends up picking up the loss as the goaltender of record in a game in which he played 24 seconds.
Sabres exploring big trade with Blues [Die By the Blade]
It appears Buffalo is all in with their playoff push this year. Darren Dreger had reported that they came close to finalizing a trade for St. Louis’ Robert Thomas, but the teams have yet to be able to come to an agreement. There is some talk that they may focus on Colton Parayko or Justin Faulk instead.
NHL Rumblings [The Athletic]
Pierre LeBrun wraps up some stray deadline thoughts and puts John Carlson as a dark horse name to be traded over the next few days.
Marco Mignosa named OHL Player of the Month [CHL]
The oldest player selected in the 2025 NHL draft, Mignosa is having another great season for the Soo Greyhounds. The Lightning’s seventh-round pick had 23 points (12 goals, 11 assists) in 12 games in February and he’s at 79 points (30 goals, 49 assists) in 57 games so far this year. It wouldn’t be a surprise to see him turn pro and join the Crunch once the Greyhounds are done playing this spring.
We talked Western Conference trades (Michael McCarron’s name came up), injuries, and previewed two games this week. Check it out on YouTube or wherever you get your favorite podcast. Please subscribe where you do listen/watch.
