By Michael Wax
The Lightning fall to 13-8-1 after a 3-1 loss to the red-hot Bruins. Here are three things we noticed from the game.
999
Steven Stamkos is on the doorstep of history, sitting at 999 points after a second period power-play goal against Boston. No player has reached their 1000th point with the Lightning, and no player has had more points in Lightning history than Stamkos' 999. Pretty astonishing considering his first 100 point season came just last year.
For a player who has missed so much time, Stamkos hitting 1000 points would be a massive accomplishment. Should he get his 1000th point against Philly on Thursday, he would be the 95th player in NHL history to accomplish the feat.
40, not 60
The Lightning's first period was not good. Conceding the game opening goal just 1:07 in, the Bolts could not get any good chances on second-year Jeremy Swayman.
As the game progressed though, the Lightning seemed to have found their footing. They couldn't get any 5v5 goals on the night, but the new first and second lines seemed to have a better shot of getting that elusive second goal.
A Struggling PK
A stats relayed during Monday's broadcast against the Sabres was that only 12 teams have a penalty kill percentage above 80%. While that number has changed to 15/31 teams after the Monday and Tuesday games, the Lightning's PK percentage continues to be below that 80% marker. Currently, the Lightning are sitting at 20th in the league with a 76.9% success rate, a decline from their 80. 6% success rate last year.
The Lightning's big key loss in the offseason was Ryan McDonagh, their best penalty killer. With at least one power play goal against in six of their last seven games, one has to wonder if the PK is just in a bad slump or if this is a permanent slide.
Three Stars
1. Hall (BOS): 2 Goals
2. Swayman (BOS): 25 Saves
3. Lindholm (BOS): 25:11 TOI
The Lightning's next game will be against the Philadelphia Flyers on Thursday, December 1, at 7 PM EST.
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