With just 18 games left in the regular season, the Tampa Bay Lightning continue to lose ground on a nightly basis in the playoff race.
The Lightning were thoroughly outplayed and embarrassed in front of the home fans in a 6-3 loss to Calgary.
How bad was it? It was so bad that Coach Jon Cooper, who rarely calls his team out or says a negative word about his team in his post-game press conference, lit into his team post-game.
“We haven’t played since last Saturday. They had time away from the rink, time together, and a couple of practices. We couldn’t have laid it out more perfectly for them to come out and put a good showing for the fans, and they did the complete opposite.”
When asked whether it was an effort or execution problem, Cooper said this. “The word probably would be a little bit more ’embarrassing. That’s what it was. I mean, execution was horrendous. Decision-making was even worse than that.”
It was one of the worst games and efforts the Lightning have put forth this season. Cooper was right when he called the effort embarrassing. The Lightning looked like the Keystone cops on skates.
Currently, the Lightning are just two points ahead of the New York Islanders for the final wildcard spot and three points in front of Washington
Victor Hedman had one of his worst games of the season with his lack of hustle, heart, and desire to finish plays.
Give GM Julien BriseBois credit. He is trying to put some deals together and bring in some players that he thinks will help this Lightning team.
Lightning Acquire Forward Anthony Duclair
The Bolts acquired forward Anthony Duclair from the San Jose Sharks late on Thursday Night in exchange for offensive/defenseman Jack Thompson and a third-round pick in this summer draft.
Duclair will add some depth scoring to the lower lines. He has 17 goals and 26 assists for the Sharks this season and scored two goals in a 7-6 loss to the Dallas Stars on Wednesday Night.
Duclair will add some speed to the lines and will find a home on the second power-play unit.
The Lightning are familiar with Duclair’s game from his time with the Florida Panthers the last couple of seasons.
BreisBois talked about what he brings to the Lightning. “He is a high-end skill, play-making ability, goal-scoring ability. He can push the D back, which opens up the ice for some of the other players to find soft ice and pockets to score goals or get quality scoring chances off of. We’ve played him in the playoffs a few times, and he’s scored some big goals against us. So, happy to have him in our jersey going forward.”
Yes, the Lightning needs depth scoring, but defense is the top concern right now. Assistant Coach Jeff Blashill remains the most significant problem on this Lightning team with the defense, but he will ride or die with Jon Cooper for the rest of the season.
Cooper would rather go down with the ship than make the tough call and fire a coach who brings nothing to this team and helps them lose more games than win.
Lightning Pick Up Defensemen Matt Dumba
Right before the 3 PM deadline, the Lightning acquired defenseman Matt Dumba from the Arizona Coyotes for future considerations.
Speaking of Dumba, BriseBois had this to say about his new defensemen. “He’s a guy who goes up against the other team’s best players and makes it unpleasant for them, enjoys competing against the good players and stars in our league and physically taking it to them. We can’t replace Sergachev, but now we have someone who is used to playing some of those big minutes himself to come into the lineup and help us. And the beauty with both players is the acquisition cost made sense for us.”
“We got two players that don’t mortgage our future, make us better right now, help us for this final push, and hopefully for a nice long playoff run after that.”
Whether that is enough to secure a playoff berth is anyone’s guess.
All we know is the playoffs started for the Lightning weeks ago, and every game from here on out will be a playoff game for the Tampa Bay Lightning.
The Bolts are back home to play the Philadelphia Flyers on Saturday.