Two ways to view Lighting shootout loss to Oilers

by Erik Erlendsson | @Erik_Erlendsson | Like us on Facebook
December 17, 2016

The current state of affairs around the Lightning can be viewed one of two ways.

With two wins in the past in the past 11 games, some see it as time to stomp, kick and scream while looking up and crying out “The Sky is Falling”

Or, things can be viewed from a different approach that sees the foundation still in place, even if a handful of cracks are showing signs of a weakened structure.

Perhaps, as the first two-plus months of the season have gone, there were signs of both coming out of Saturday’s 3-2 shootout loss at Edmonton.

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First, let’s look at the “Sky is Falling” approach

Tampa Bay has a difficult time holding leads. It happened Friday in Vancouver and it showed up once again in Edmonton the next night after the Lightning held a 2-1 lead early in the third period after Tyler Johnson scored 2:35 in to the third period. The Oilers tied it five minutes later to force overtime.

The Lightning can’t stay out of the penalty kill. There are too many penalties being taken – the Lightning took six minors on Saturday – and many of them come at ill-advised times, such as Slater Koekkoek’s hooking call that set up the tying goal for the Oilers. Tampa Bay is the fourth most penalized team in the league and when the penalty kill is struggling, it can be a difficult recipe to win games.

Speaking of the penalty kill, to say it’s struggling is being kind. It’s downright putrid right now and has proven to be fruitful for struggling power plays, including the Oilers. Edmonton entered the game with the 28th ranked home power play, scoring just six times all year. Against the Lightning, the Oilers struck twice as Tampa Bay has now allowed eight power play goals in the past four games.

On Dec. 10, Pittsburgh had just four power play goals on the road all season and were in the midst of a 1-for-20 stretch with the man advantage before scoring three times to rally for a 4-3 victory.

“We’ve got to step up as players. Enough’s enough here,” goaltender Ben Bishop said. “We’ve got to have more passion to kill these penalties because it’s getting almost embarrassing. The coaches are giving us the right structure to do it, it’s about us going out there and doing it. It comes upon us, and it starts with the goalies. But we’ve got to change something here.”

This year’s penalty kill has been as detrimental as the power play was last season.

“We’ve got to sit down as a staff and keep working at it,” Lightning head coach Jon Cooper said. “It’s been tough because special teams have become a big part of the game, and it seems killing penalties has cost us some points down the stretch. That’s an area you have to be good at. If the power play sputters a little bit here and there, if you’re still defending, keeping the puck out of the net, you can win games. But if we’re giving up a goal or two on the PK, it’s tough to win.”

So those are the major cracks in need of repair.

Here’s the other side of things.

The power play, often a dumpster fire for most of last season, continues to be a positive factor and was again on Saturday.

Jonathan Drouin notched his sixth goal of the season with 1:01 remaining in the second period and Tampa Bay on the man advantage to tie the game heading in to the final period. It was the fourth consecutive game the Lightning scored on the power play as Tampa Bay remains among the top teams in the league, ranked fifth overall. The 26 power play goals on the season rank second overall behind Philadelphia.

Tampa Bay played the second half of a back-to-back, losing an hour along the way flying from Vancouver to Edmonton, only to find out another forward was injured as Cedric Paquette was scratched. That left the Lightning missing five forwards – Steven Stamkos, Nikita Kucherov, Ondrej Palat, Ryan Callahan and Paquette.

Yet, they found a way to finish up the road trip with a quality point and finishing with three of six on the Western Canadian swing, keeping in line of securing as many points as road games.

” It was a courageous effort by our guys, especially playing three in four nights on a West Coast swing, three time zones away,” Cooper said. “I thought after the first period we were possibly the better team. But they’ve got a good squad over there. When it comes to the shootout, anything can happen. They’ve got some really skilled players over there, and they were one better than us.”

Not a great three-game swing, mind you, but under the circumstances, shows how much character this team is able to muster.

“Our boys showed a lot of heart tonight,” Cooper said. “Did we want that fourth point? Of course we did, but to come out of here and at least get one, that’ll give us a little momentum for [Tuesday] night.”

“I guess it’s alright,” Johnson said. “We always talk about when you go on the road, you want more points than games, so we were one point away from that. Tonight really could have went either way. We had some opportunities.”

Postgame notes: D Victor Hedman became the franchise all-time leader for points by a defenseman with his 254th career point, passing Dan Boyle for the lead. Hedman also ranks ninth on the all-time franchise list for all skaters. … C Cedric Paquette was unable to play, leaving Tampa Bay with 11 healthy forwards for the game. Paquette is listed as day-to-day with an upper-body injury. … Tampa Bay were set to call up C Tanner Richard from Syracuse of the American Hockey League, but his connecting flight was delayed due to weather, forcing him to return to the Crunch. … D Nikita Nesterov dressed as the seventh defenseman. … C Brayden Point failed to convert a shootout attempt for the first time in four tries this season. … The Lightning fell to 1-6-1 against Western Conference opponents. … RW Nikita Kucherov was placed on injured reserve, retroactive to Dec. 11, and is eligible to return before Tuesday’s game against Detroit. … LW Ondrej Palat missed his second consecutive game with an undisclosed injury (no upper- or-lower body designation). … Tampa Bay stayed the night in Edmonton and will fly home on Sunday before starting a stretch that includes seven of the next eight games at home.

My three stars:

1. Oilers C Leon Draisaitl– Tying goal, assist

2. Lightning D Victor Hedman – Assist, 28:26 of ice time, eight shot attempts

3. Lightning RW Jonathan Drouin – Goal, shootout conversion, three shots in 21:25 of ice time

Full game highlights

Jon Cooper postgame media session

Ben Bishop postgame media session

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