By Michael Wax
The Lightning couldn’t capitalize late with the man advantage had defensive lapses cost them, falling 2-1 to the Edmonton Oilers on Tuesday night.
Here are three things we saw from the loss:
Twists and Turns
Even though the Lightning are a little more than a quarter of the way into the season, Jake Guentzel has had a tale of two seasons so far with Tampa.
Over his first ten games, Guentzel was racking up the assists, serving as Nikita Kucherov's sep-up man in a role that a lot of people expected to be reversed when Guentzel originally signed with Tampa.
Recently, though, the roles have been reversed once again, and Guentzel has been shooting lights out. With his goal in this game, he has scored six goals in the last seven games, continuing his torrid streak on the top line.
During our preseason hot takes video, co-owner Jake said Guentzel would hit 60 goals. While that might have been a little far-fetched, Guentzel could definitely be making a case for 50 if he continues his current torrid pace.
Speed Killed
The Lightning were already heading into this game with a significant challenge on defense, playing without their best defensive center in Anthony Cirelli and their best right-handed defenseman in Eric Cernak, both of whom left Sunday's win against Vancouver early due to injury. While the Lightning didn’t have to use call-up Steven Santini, the result they got from the sixth defenseman they did put in the lineup left a lot to be desired.
Against a team such as Edmonton, which uses its speed and for checking about to make their opponents make mistakes, the Lightning had a tough time matching up against such a fast game. It felt like they were playing most of the game with flat feet, allowing Edmonton to get breakaways during the game, of which they scored on two. One of those goals, you could count as an unlucky bounce, but ultimately, the Lightning left their goaltender out to dry on more than one occasion in this game.
Captain Victor Hedman, in particular, did not have his strongest outing. It started with an indecisive play in the first that led to a turnover, minutes of possession for Edmonton, and eventually, an Edmonton goal that was called back due to offsides. This one mistake seemed to snowball throughout the rest of the game, as he seemed indecisive on positioning and passing opportunities.
You could chalk this game off as a one-off, especially with a depleted defensive core. But if Cirelli and Cernak miss games going forward, the Lightning will need to find some synergy with the six defensemen and new forward lines they’ll have.
Turning a Corner
One defensive aspect that was quite good for the Lightning in this game was their penalty kill.
After initially struggling to start out the year, the Lightning’s penalty kill has been fantastic, killing penalties at an 84% success rate since November 15, which is seventh over the entire NHL over that time. In this game, they win a perfect three-for-three again.
The penalty-killing forwards did a very solid job of making sure that Edmonton didn’t get a ton of big chances, led by Nick Paul, and with cameos from Brandon Hagel and Jake Guentzel. Even with a depleted defensive core, they could do their jobs, and Andrei Vasilevskiy provided an excellent last line of defense.
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