Recap
Another game, another one goal loss to a good team. This time, the Carolina Hurricanes beat the Lightning 3-2. This follows back-to-back 4-3 losses to the St. Louis Blues and Washington Capitals.
The game unraveled for the Lightning in the first period. They didn’t play particularly poorly but three shots ended up in the back of the net. It started with a power play goal for Sebastian Aho followed by even strength goals for Jordan Martinook and Jaccob Slavin. The Slavin goal was the back breaker as it came on a wild deflection with six seconds left in the period.
The Lightning dominated the rest of the game but could only find two goals, both in the third period. Brayden Point got the first when he his centering pass intended for Nikita Kucherov bounced off Dougie Hamilton’s stick and deflected into the net. Tyler Johnson cut the lead to one with just over eleven minutes left on a vintage TJ wrister from the slot.
The Bolts continued to apply pressure and just like last night against the Caps, nearly scored several times with the goalie pulled. But alas, another loss.
StatCap
Not much to say here. The Lightning were pretty clearly the better team. The Blues and Caps games were more even. Tonight, I’d go all the way to saying the Lightning deserved both points and to get none was extremely unfortunate. One encouraging sign is that the stars led the way tonight. Steven Stamkos, Kucherov, and Point were all great tonight.
FeelingsCap
Blahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.
I’m running out of ways to say they played well but lost. The process has been great lately but they aren’t getting results. I don’t know what else to do other than hope it turns around. This is extremely frustrating hockey to watch. The team is talented. They’re flashing their skill. They’re outplaying good teams for long stretches. But it isn’t translating to standings points.
Against the Blues, it was the back-to-back penalties in the third period. Against the Caps, it was not looking good in overtime. Tonight, they got goalie’d by James Reimer of all people. Last year was a regular season where everything went right. This is a season where a lot of things are going wrong. Tomorrow is December 1st. We’re deep enough in the season where they need to start getting results if they want to be in good shape in the spring. And if they keep playing like they did tonight, those results should come. And I hope it happens soon.
Highlights
Slavin goal to make it 3-0
Point goal to make it 3-1
Johnson goal to make it 3-2
