By Michael Wax
The Lightning wrapped up their road trip with a 3-2 OT loss to the Buffalo Sabres, putting their record to 1-2-1. Here are how the lines looked.
Hagel-Point-Kucherov Jeannot-Cirelli-Eyssimont
Sheary-Paul-Barré-Boulet
Watson-Glendening-Merelä
Hedman-Cernak
Sergachev-Raddysh
Bogosian-Perbix
Johansson
Here are the biggest takeaways from the Lightning's 3-2 OT loss:
JJ
Jonas Johansson has been very solid in his three starts so far this season. Sure, he's had a goal or two he'd want back, but overall he's been the team's best player. That continued in this game, where he had far-and-away his best game as a Bolt. He stopped several grade-A opportunities, keeping the Lightning in the game for all 60 minutes of regulation. The OT goal from Nick Cozens might be another one he wants back, but the Lightning didn't even touch the puck in OT, which is hardly the fault of the goalie
Who Wants Bagels?
Brandon Hagel had another big game to start off his season, getting the opportunity to wear an 'A' on his jersey and returning the favor by scoring two goals, including the tying goal with seven seconds left in regulation. The 25-year-old generated a ton of chances for the Lightning, both at 5-on-5 and shorthanded. Btoh of his goals came just a few feet in front of the net, quickly reading the plays and finding a way to score.
He's got four goals on the season, leading the Lightning, and hopefully he keeps it up.
High and Wide
I think this tweet sums it all up, per Chris Krenn:
Man Up?
Regardless of if the power play had scored or not, the absence of Stamkos made the units very strange. The first unit saw the return of two defenders on the power play, something the Lightning haven't done since the mid-2010s. Mikhail Sergachev stayed the entire way, while Victor Hedman and Darren Raddysh swapped places each man advantage.
Aside from personal, the decision making was also questionable. Nikita Kucherov had one of his worst games in a long time. He turned the puck over on many occasions, consistently looking for passes that weren't there, and failing to shoot the puck on the power play at all and making things very predicable for the Sabres PK.
Final thoughts
Too little, too late. The Lightning need to get this under control before things spiral, and they'll host the Canucks on Thursday to try and break out of this funk.
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