By Michael Wax
In their first road game of the season, the Tampa Bay Lightning fell 6-4 to the Detroit Red Wings. Here are how the lines looked.
Sheary-Point-Kucherov Hagel-Cirelli-Stamkos Eyssimont-Paul Jeannot-Glendening-Merela Hedman-Perbix Sergachev-Raddysh de Haan-Cernak Fleury
Johansson
There Lightning went 11F/7D against the Wings, and here are the biggest takeaways from the Lightning's 6-4 loss:
Woes
It's early, for sure. But the Lightning's defense has a lot to be desired at this point in the season. They put together a bend-don't-break structure in the win against Nashville, but that certainly did not carry over to this performance against the Red Wings. Goals one and three were the direct result of turnovers, the fourth goal was a deflection that saw nobody covering the man in front, and the fifth goal was a 2-on-0 that ultimately became the game winner. Even though it's early, Coach Jon Cooper knows that it's not acceptable:
If the Lightning are going to contend this season and bank early points, they need to find a way to change their structure.
Bottom Six
Again, it's game two, but the bottom six has not hardly been able to generate a thing so far. The only member of the bottom six with any sort of production so far is Nick Paul, who scored both his goals on the power play.
Eyssimont, Merelä, Gledening, and Jeannot have all had a moment of two but have done more sinking than swimming. With this bottom six mostly new, it'll take some time. However, they'll need something soon in order to keep the top six from doing the heavy lifting.
Captain's Orders
Amid all the defensive issues, the best news was that Steven Stamkos had a vintage night. With three points, including two goals, he gave the Lightning a big chance. After his first goal was waived off due to a glove deflection, Stamkos got an actual goal a few minutes later with a prime one-timer.
Stamkos would tie the game again with his second of the game, this time off the rush with a picture-perfect snapshot. The captain certainly led by example with his play in this one.
Final thoughts
A really tough game. Everybody knows this team can score, but it's simply a matter of if they can keep pucks out of their own net and make life easy for Johansson and Tomkins. They'll have another crack at it on Sunday.
Three Stars
Media's Three Stars
1. DeBrincat (DET): 2 Goals, 1 Assist
2. Stamkos (TBL): 2 Goals, 1 Assist
3. Larkin (DET): 1 Assist
Our Three Stars
1. DeBrincat (DET): 2 Goals, 1 Assist
2. Stamkos (TBL): 2 Goals, 1 Assist
3. Larkin (DET): 1 Assist
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