Lightning crushed by Avalanche in homestand finale

by Erik Erlendsson | @Erik_Erlendsson | Like us on Facebook
October 20, 2016

TAMPA, Fl. –  In the early stages of the season the Lightning found a way to overcome obstacles and climb to the top of the mountain for victory.

In the fourth game, however, once they fell down they were buried by the Avalanche in a humbling 4-0 loss to close out a four-game homestand.

Matt Duchene had a pair of goals and an assist to lead the way for Colorado. Goaltender Semyon Varlamov stopped 27 shots for his 21st career shutout.

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Tampa Bay flirted with the hockey Gods in the opening three games of the season, allowing the opening goal of the game on all three occasions, falling behind twice by two goals, only to pull out victory in all three games.

That didn’t happen against Colorado, which scored on a Duchene partial breakaway after a puck hopped over the stick of Steven Stamkos, allowing Duchene to skate in alone on goaltender Ben Bishop. Though Bishop made the initial save, Duchene was able to whack the rebound for a Colorado lead with 25 seconds left in the first period.

The Avalanche locked it down from there and never looked back.

“You can’t keep playing from behind,’’ Lightning head coach Jon Cooper said. “So we play from behind in four games. Did we deserve to be playing from behind in all those games? I can’t sit here and say that or not. Did we deserve to be playing from behind today? But, we were. It’d be nice to have the lead. I mean, it’s been great to have the lead at the end of games, but you just can’t keep testing fate because eventually you’re not going to be able to come back and we didn’t tonight.’’

Duchense would make the lead 2-0 heading in to the third period when he deflected a shot from Patrick Wiercioch with 52 seconds left in the second period. Though Tampa Bay would outshoot the Avalanche 12-2 in the third period, the makings of a comeback were all but thwarted when a potential Andrej Sustr goal was waived off for offsides early in the third period.

A short time later, a funky bounce off the end boards victimized Bishop for the second time in four games when a dump-in attempt from Joe Colborne hit a stanchion and caromed right in to the slot area to a wide open Andreas Martinsen who scored in to the vacated net at 7:53 after Bishop went out to play the puck.

Carl Soderberg iced the game with 7:38 left, converting a 2-on-1 chance as the Avalanched scored on their only two shots on goal in the third period.

“They blocked a lot of shots. They made some good saves. We didn’t get a lot of bounces tonight. It was one of those games,’’ Stamkos said. “We have to be better than that on home ice, whatever they did we can’t give up four goals.’’

Colorado forward Jarome Iginla said the Avalanche game plan was to stay patient, wait for chances while trying to neutralize any chance at a Lightning attack.

“We were trying to be a lot tighter (than against Washington in the previous game), and we kept the play along the wall a little more and tried to win those wall battles,’’ Iginla said. “It probably was a little simpler but when you are playing the Bolts, you have to be that way because they have a very creative and fast team and we have a lot of respect for them.’’

The Lightning, however, understood that it was more about how they let their game slip that opened up the door for Colorado to take advantage.

“I think we need to manage the puck and get stronger in the defensive zone,’’ defenseman Anton Stralman said. “There’s always stuff to work on and I think we haven’t seen our best side yet. There’s time to improve, it’s early in the season. It’s time to bring [our game] back.’’

Postgame notes: The four-goal loss for Tampa Bay was the largest margin of defeat since a 5-1 loss to Ottawa on Feb. 8, 2016. … Tampa Bay has failed to score a first-period goal in the opening four games of the season. … Tampa Bay suffered six shutout losses last season including four in the first 20 games of the season. … Amalie Arena was announced as a sellout for the 70th consecutive date, including the playoffs. … Head coach Jon Cooper shuffled the line combinations around after keeping them intact for the opening three games of the season.

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