We’re keeping this one short. Since we were live in the building, haven’t had a chance to dive too deep into things, but here are few positive thoughts, and a few negative thoughts from the Tampa Bay Lightning’s 4-3 overtime loss to the Seattle Kraken.
Positive thought:
The Lightning went 1-for-1 on the power play. Not only that, it was the second unit that scored the goal. Corey Perry was doing Corey Perry things and roofed a nice shot from in close to tie the game up at three. It was an odd game where the teams combined for 26 minutes of penalties, but each team only had one power play. The Bolts are doing a better job at staying out of the box, and outside of the Minnesota game, killing off the short-handed opportunities.
Meanwhile, their power play is rocking once again. During this six-game points streak they are at 46.2% (6-for-13). Making teams pay for taking penalties is a good way to get them to back off a little and give the forwards a little more space on the ice.
Less-than-positive thought:
Another slow start. It’s been happening a lot lately. The Lightning don’t necessarily play bad in the first period, but they seem somewhat disengaged. Then, as the game progresses, they get into it and carry the play the rest of the way. Against Minnesota they were able to come back all the way, but against Seattle they weren’t. It’s not a great way to succeed in the playoffs as teams will button things up defensively if they get out to a multi-goal lead. The Bolts have to find a way to play with inspiration right of the gate and start getting some early leads.
Positive thought:
Outside of the first period, the Lightning did play to their strengths and eventually dominated pretty much every statistical category out side of the goals scored one. Which, to be fair, is the most important one. As Coach Jon Cooper put it, “we won the score, but lost the game.” The good thing is that they are getting back to the things that win games. They limited Seattle’s scoring chances and shots against. Overall, they didn’t give the Kraken many looks, unfortunately for them, the visitors happened to score on the chances they did get.
Not-so-positive thought:
There were a couple of defensive breakdowns that led to goals. Emil Lilleberg was turnstiled by Chandler Stephenson on the Kaapo Kaako goal. Lilleberg has to shut down that entry. Instead he hesitated a little, Stephenson beat him along the boards and had a clear lane to pass the puck to Kaako. That was a bit of a back-breaker goal as well considering the Lightning had just tied the game up a minute earlier on Anthony Cirelli’s 20th goal of the season.
The overtime goal had a couple of bad moments. Brandon Hagel breaks his stick in the defensive zone and isn’t sure what to do. He chose to head to the bench which gave the Kraken a 3-on-2. Now Andrei Vasilevskiy has to be wary of the pass out of the corner from Brandon Montour, and the veteran defender knew that. He was able to outwait Vasilevskiy and fooled him on a no-look shot that went under the pads.
Positive thought:
The Lightning picked up a point. Would they have loved to have two? Yes, but in the end they added a point to their column and burned another day off of the calendar. The teams chasing them are going to start running out of games, and as long as the Lightning keep adding points, they’re going to fend them off.
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