By Jake Ricker
The Tampa Bay Lightning looked to continue their winning streak against a red hot Panthers team. Here is how they stacked up in last night's matchup against the Florida Panthers.
Stamkos - Point - Kucherov
Hagel - Cirelli - Paul
Eyssimont - Motte - Watson
Sheary - Glendening - Chaffee
Hedman - Raddysh
Fleury - Cernak
Lilleberg - Perbix
Vasilevskiy
Here are the biggest takeaways from the Lightning's 9-2 loss vs the Panthers.
Bad Breaks
It's no secret this was an ugly game for the Lightning when looking at the final score. But it certainly doesn't tell the whole story. Four of the goals the Panthers scored came off deflections, which might be one of the hardest shots to stop. Two of those deflections came off Lightning players and you could almost call them own goals. The Lightning also found themselves in a bigger hole when the Panthers scored a goal and lost a goalie interference challenge, which the league said was allowed since the contact happened outside the crease. The Panthers then scored on that ensuing power play, making things go from bad to worse.
By no means should this be taken as the Lightning just got unlucky. They had a lot of issues, which we will get into. But luck certainly was not on the Lightning's side.
Defensive zone
The Lightning struggled in their own zone throughout this game. Take the second Pathers goal, which came when the Lightning failed to clear the zone and, in turn, created a 3-on-2 and gave the Panthers a ton of Ice to work with and then a rifle of a shot to get it past Vasilevskiy.
The Lightning gave the Panthers way too much room to work with and found themselves chasing more often than not. While a lot of these goals felt unlucky, some of them certainly could have been prevented. Offensive Chances
The Lightning had a ton of chances in this game, and credit where credit is due, Bobrovsky made some great saves when he needed to. The Lightning ended the night with 30 shots on goal, which is right on pace for a normal game, but tonight, when nothing was going the Lightning's way, it felt like they were snake-bitten. They got opportunities but just couldn't capitalize.
The Lightning had had a great offense all year long, and it's never been a major issue for them, so there isn't much of a concern. Unfortunately, they ran into a good team and a hot goaltender that would not be stopped.
Final Thoughts
This was ugly; no ifs and's or buts about it. The big thing for the Lightning now is how they will respond. The last time they got run out of the building by the Islanders, they started a three-game win streak and beat two great teams in the Avalanche and Bruins. Burry the tapes and move on to the next one.
Three Stars
Media's three-stars
1. Bennett (2G,2A)
2. Tkachuck (2G,2A)
3. Verhaeghe (2G,1A)
Our three-stars
1. Any Lightning fan that watched the whole game
2. The final horn
3. The new jerseys
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