The Tampa Bay Lightning are on a three-game road trip, and it did not start well as the Bolts dropped a 4-2 decision to the Winnipeg Jets.
It started well for the Bolts as Steven Stamkos scored a power-play goal at 6:18 of the first period to give the Lightning a 1-0 lead.
After that, Winnipeg’s defense kept the Lightning off the scoreboard until the game was already de, as the Jets won for their third straight time.
The Injuries Continue To Mount
The Lightning played this game with only five defensemen, as Mikhail Sergachev, Hayden Fleury, and Eric Cernak were all out with injuries.
Sergachev and Cernak are two of the Lightning’s best penalty killers, and when Winnipeg had two back-to-power plays in the third period, the Bolts lost a step, and the Jets took a 3-1 lead, which they never relinquished.
Andrei Vasilevskiy was not as sharp as he needed to be, allowing two goals he should have stopped, which didn’t help matters.
Nikita Kucherov had a goal and an assist as the Lightning have lost three out of their last four.
The Bolts are 18-16-5 and have two challenging games ahead of them later this week. The Bolts play at Minnesota against ex-teammate Pat Maroon on Thursday night and will be in Boston on Saturday.
The Lightning did not play poorly against the Jets, but this team cannot make mistakes, and they made a couple of mistakes against Winnipeg that ended up in the back of their net.
This team cannot afford to make those mental errors, as they have cost the Lightning more than one game this season.
Jon Cooper talked about the effort and the tough loss in Winnipeg. “I thought we played a pretty darn good road game,” Cooper said. “It was tough to get scored on in the first five minutes of the second, but we were doing what we wanted to do, and it was tough that we couldn’t get that second goal.”
Lightning Struggling To Stay In Playoff Position
With 39 games in the books, the Lightning are currently out of a playoff spot. In the last few years, the Lightning have had a firm grasp on a playoff spot by the season’s midpoint.
Not this year. The Lightning are on pace for 86 points, which is not good enough to earn a playoff spot. Tampa is in jeopardy of not making the playoffs for the first time since the 2016-17 season.
The Bolts must play their best hockey of the season in the second half. From what I have seen in the first half, nothing indicates that this team will find that magic switch, start playing playoff hockey, and go on a great run.
Mikhail Sergachev suffered a foot injury blocking a shot during a game right after Christmas, and he has been placed on IR. For how long, we don’t know. It was listed as a day-to-day injury, meaning several things could occur. Either this injury is worse than we let on to believe, or this is a salary cap move to get a couple of other defensemen on the roster.
The Lightning played with five defensemen in the 4-2 loss to Winnipeg, which is unsustainable. Sean Day will likely get the call from Syracuse to join the team in Minnesota for Thursday night’s game if Sergachev and Cernak are not ready.
With the Lightning right up against the salary cap, there is little room for trade deadline acquisitions unless you are trading someone making a significant salary.
This is the roster the Lightning will need to rely on if they are to make the playoffs this season.
It does not look promising, but that is the way the cards are falling for the Tampa Bay Lightning.