The Tampa Bay Lightning had a chance to move into first place this weekend, but couldn’t get the job done in Utah and Vegas.
After a shootout win in Dallas to open the road trip, the Lightning played horrible in front of goalie Brandon Halverson, who was making his first NHL start in a 6-4 loss.
It was a terrible start for the Lightning Sunday night in Vegas. The Bolts allowed three Golden Knight goals in the first period, and could never dig themselves out of that hole and lost to the Golden Knights 4-2. The Lightning did play much better in the second and third periods, but the damage had already been done. Nick Paul and Nikita Kucherov had the two goals in the Lightning loss.
The Lightning have now lost two in a row and dropped five of their last eight games. It was a good road trip from a competition standpoint. Both Dallas and Vegas will be in the playoffs, and Utah is battling for a wildcard spot in the West.
“Against a team like that, it’s tough to come back,” Lightning coach Jon Cooper said after spotting Vegas the 3-0 lead after the first period.
This is the kind of competition that the Lightning will face in their final ten games, and the competition will only get better in the playoffs. The Lightning have to be better defensively and cut down on the turnovers if they have their eyes set on a deep playoff run.
After the Vegas game, Cooper said he was pleased with the effort, just not the execution. “The boys tried. I can’t say they didn’t give effort. The issue for us was execution, and probably the mental side of things we probably didn’t do the right things of what we needed to win, and then ultimately the turnovers pop into our game at some inopportune times.”
The Lightning are currently 40-25-5, and trail second place Toronto by two points, and first place Florida by four points in the division.
Brandon Hagel summed up the sense of urgency that is needed right now for the Lightning: “We had a lot of great looks. We believe we’re a really good hockey team over here. We have 12 games. That’s kind of the message in here. Throw out the guys and let’s start building something here. It’s not just a light switch that turns on 12 games from now. It’s got to start now. Obviously, can we get better? Absolutely. But we’ve just got to continue to build on it. It can’t be one good, one bad, one good, one bad. We need to stay together.”
Cooper echoed Hagels’ comments as he gave his assessment of the Lightning lately. “We’re like a yo-yo right now. Good game, tough one, good game, tough one.”
That is what is so frustrating about watching this team play. We have seen the Lightning look and play like champions, but they can’t seem to do it on a consistent basis, which they will need to do in the playoffs.
“I think it’s just crucial that we start dialing in the details and kind of get on the same page and just do the simple things,” JJ Moser said.
The Bolts will look to return to their winning ways this week with home games against Pittsburgh, Utah, and the New York Islanders.