By Michael Wax
The Lightning were witness to the Bedard show, as the rookie put up four points and Lightning's sloppy defensive play led to four first period goals against as they lost 5-3 on Thursday night.
Here's what the lines looked like:
Hagel-Point-Kucherov
Stamkos-Paul-ABB
Jeannot-Cirelli-Eyssimont
Motte-Glendening-Merelä
Hedman-Cernak
Sergachev-Raddysh
de Haan-Perbix
Johansson in goal.
Here are three things that we noticed from the game.
Turn 'Em Over
Turnovers, turnovers, turnovers. The main concern for the lightning defense this season has been the absurd amount of turnovers that they've given, and the lack of turnovers they've created. This game saw three of the first four goals Chicago scored off of a Lightning turnover.
On the first goal, Victor Hedman attempted to sweep the puck behind the net, but ended up, giving the puck away, and failed to get to Connor Bedard in front of the net before he tapped the game open goal. After the unlucky second goal that went off of a skate in front, the lightning gifted Chicago, their third goal of the night with a another turnover from Calvin de Haan in the neutral zone. He attempted a breakout pass, and former Bolt Tyler Johnson was able to capitalize and ended up scoring against his former team.
The fourth goal, Bedard's second of the period, came as a result of another turnover in the neutral zone, this one from the first line. While Johansson made the initial save, Anthony Cirelli ran into his own goaltender and allowed the puck into the back of the net.
These issues weren't fixed in the final 40 minutes either, they just didn't result in goals so they went largely unnoticed. This is a team that really struggles with their breakout passes, and while Yonas Johanan has been good in net, he's not good enough to fix nearly all of these mistakes. The lightnings defense has taken a major tumble since the departure of Ryan McDonough, but this year has just been on a whole other level.
Tony Time
Anthony Cirelli was far and away the lightning's best player in this game, both by the stats, and by the advanced metrics. Cirelli was tops in game score, and made both Tanner Jeannot and Mikey Eyssimont look fantastic in all three zones.
Cirelli's goal came in an uncommon situation for him, on the power play. As someone who is barely on the PowerPlay, and the net front presents when he is, Cirelli was given the role of the bumper slot that is normally given to a player like Brayden Point or Alex Barré-Boulet. in a play that was very similar to many Kucherov to Point power-play goals, Brandon Hagel found a wide open Cirelli for a one to even up the game midway through the first period.
Leadership
For someone that has put up over a point per game this season, and had another assist in this game, Hedman has struggled, exponentially this season when it's come to defensive play. Whether it's the fact his partnership with Eric Cernak just doesn't seem to be working, or the poor turnovers that he's caused and the less than ideal coverage in the defensive zone, Hedman, defensive game is far from the Norris caliber play he was putting up just two seasons ago. His turnover and bad coverage on the first goal of the game set the tone for how this one was going to go.
At the end of the game, Hedman was given a penalty for interference after taking Nick Foligno out away from the puck. Instead of just letting it be, he responded by mashing his stick against the boards and taking an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty as well. This is far from the type of play that we're used to seeing out of the big Swedish defenseman, and could be a sign that he's even frustrated with his own play. Overall, as the veteran of defense core, Hedman needs to do a better job of displaying and controlling his emotions throughout tough times.
Final Thoughts
20 bad minutes was all it took for this performance to be one of the Lightning's worst of this season. Goals are going to happen, but the way that the Lightning allowed the Blackhawks to take control of this game is something that really needs to be studied before their Saturday game against the Hurricanes.
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