By Jake Ricker
The Lightning took on the Ottawa Senators last night as they looked to bounce back from a tough loss to Montreal. Bellemare, Raddysh, and Fleury would be the healthy scratches for this game as Bogosian stepped back into the lineup. Here are a few things we noticed from the blowout loss.
Early Game
The Lightning got off to a good start early in the first period. The Lightning were getting shots on goal and limiting chances by the Senators. Eyssimont was even throwing hits behind the net and creating turnovers that lead to the Lightning getting a scoring chance. Unfortunately, things started to take a turn for the worse after turnovers in the neutral zone.
The turnover caused Lightning defenders to get caught up in the play forcing Zack Bogosian to be the only defenseman back. Trying not to let anyone behind him, Bogosian kept skating back, giving the Senators a ton of time and room, leading to two quick goals and the Lightning again looking to come back from an early deficit.
The Rest of the period consisted of chances for the Senators that were stopped by Brian Elliott.
The Lightning did pick up a few more chances themselves, but none were quality chances that posed much threat.
Second Period Bounce Back
Much like in the game against the Canadians, the Lightning were trailing and looked like a different team in the second period. The Lightning started to control the puck once again and get sustained pressure in the offensive zone. Cooper also made a line change early in the second, putting Stamkos back on the first line with Brayden Point and Nikita Kucherov.
While the line didn't last for long, Brayden point picked up his 45th goal of the season after the Lightning forced a turnover and created an odd-man rush. The Lightning continued to push the pace for the rest of the period, but a late penalty led to an Ottawa goal taking away all the momentum from the Lightning.
Disasters Third
Things quickly fell apart for the Lightning after they were heavily outshot 9-1 within the first few minutes of the game. Despite the struggling play, the Lightning did get a power play where Sergachev fired a rocket home from the blue line to pull the Lightning within one.
Things then got ugly as the Lightning defense quickly backed off a speedy Erik Brannstorm giving hime time and room to fire home a beautiful shot and take back the two-goal lead. This trend continued through the final 20 minutes, and the Lightning could never even create quality chances.
The Lightning began to realize that this game was out of reach and even the pulling of Brian Elliott would not give them the needed spark. Ottawa would go on to score three more goals putting them up 7-2. After a promising third period, the Lightning fell hard in the third, tilting the ice heavily in Ottawa's favor.
Final Strike
The Lightning showed they can play good hockey, but they were unable to do that for 60 minutes. This game felt a lot like their last game against the Canadians. The Lightning were sloppy on defense and could not get much going offensively, with the exception of the second period. Brian Elliott looks the worst in the stats, but he was mostly left out to dry by his team. Zack Bogosian also had a particularly bad game on defense.
The Lightning's road ahead will not get any easier as they get set to take on the Boston Bruins and Carolina Hurricanes. They will need to play a full 60 minutes if they want a shot at winning. With that said, the Lightning tend to struggle in the month of March, and it's clear this team is tired and looking ahead to the postseason. Until they prove they can't turn their game around in the postseason, there is no reason to doubt this team can go far again.
Three Stars
Media’s three stars
1. DeBrincat (2G, 1A)
2. Tkachuk (2G)
3. Brannstrom (1G,1A)
Our three stars
1. DeBrincat (2G, 1A)
2. Tkachuk (2G)
3. Brannstrom (1G,1A)
The Lightning's next game will be against the Boston ruins on Sunday, March 25th, at 1:00 PM ET.
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