Tampa Bay Lightning defense torched again, adding fuel to growing fire

by Erik Erlendsson | @Erik_Erlendsson | Like us on Facebook
January 8, 2017

Sunday’s matinee showed more spark from the Lightning than the day before. But it ignited next to nothing.

Instead it only added fuel to a growing fire surrounding this hockey team, one predicted by some publications to be crowned Stanley Cup champion this season.

One game in to the start of the second half of the season, Tampa Bay sits four points from the cellar in the Eastern Conference. And yet, amazingly, just two points out of a playoff spot.

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Following a 6-2 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins at PPG Paints Arena, it sure has more of feel of the basement rather than the high-rise district. Allowing 22 goals during a four-game losing streak will give off that sort of stench.

”You’ve just got to get back to work. It’s 82 games, not four,’’ Lightning head coach Jon Cooper said. “But we’ve got to have a little renewed interest in our D zone because it doesn’t matter, you can sit here and say, ‘Well, we can score four or five a night,’ you’re still going to lose when you give up six.’’

Tampa Bay has plenty of reasons to point toward regarding the dramatic shift in play. Injuries have certainly been a big factor.

Steven Stamkos has been out since mid-November due to knee surgery, Ben Bishop suffered a lower body injury on Dec. 20, Ryan Callahan has played less than half the season recovering from hip surgery, Nikita Kucherov and Ondrej Palat both missed time before Christmas, Jonathan Drouin missed time in November, Brayden Point suffered a broken bone in his hand and Brian Boyle has not played since New Year’s Eve.

Because of the injuries, Tampa Bay has had to call up 11 different players from Syracuse of the American Hockey League (though two of those players are goaltenders that have yet to see any time) which can lead to a lack of continuity in the lineup.

With the most players to play in the World Cup of Hockey combined with a condensed scheduled due to the World Cup, the argument could be made that it took a toll on the Lightning more than any other team.

But none of that can truly attest for how far this team has fallen, for how poorly they have played defensively. For a team to rarely gave up more than two goals in a game, Tampa Bay has allowed six goals three times in the past four games. And since Nov. 25, the Lightning have allowed five or more goals seven times. All of last season, Tampa Bay allowed five or more goals a total of 10 games.

And the coaching staff seems helpless to plug the holes in a ship that seems to be sinking.

Last week, the day after Tampa Bay lost to Winnipeg, associate coach Rick Bowness gave what felt like a very telling quote on the state of the team when he said: “You just keep addressing it until it hits home. There’s no secret to it. If we can do it one period why can’t we do it for the next two, if we do it for one game why aren’t we doing it for the next game. So there’s no secret to it, we know what’s wrong and we are going to keep harping at them and keep addressing it.’’

So what has plagued this team has been addressed on more than one occasion, to the point where you start to wonder if there is enough accountability and trust inside the locker room. Or if the message from the coaching staff is still getting through.

”It’s always tough being in stretches like this,’’ Lightning defenseman Anton Stralman said. “This whole season has been very much up and down, but what are you going to do? We can’t give up. There’s half a season left to play. We’re still not out. We still have it in our hands. We just have to bring it together.’’

Sunday’s game just felt like another game in which things just fell apart. There was life in the beginning of the game, Tampa Bay again grabbed the lead and were still in the game at 2-1 heading in to the third. But the Penguins scored twice in a 55-second span and it was all but game over early in the third period.

”We came out hard. We played well, did a lot of the things we talked about doing and played good hockey,’’ Stralman said. “The second period comes around, we started to fall off the train a little bit, we’re starting to want to do a little bit too much and then we turn a couple pucks over and we get hurt. Saying that, we go in 2-1 in the third, and I think we’re trying, we broke down a couple of times and it hurt. They’re a good team. They’re probably the best team in the league. You can’t break down, especially in front of our net.’’

So it was pretty much a lot of the same-old story of late with this team that feels like the bottom has fallen out and it’s only a question of how far the fall will take them before something happens to turn things around.

With three days between games, don’t be surprised if that something happens to try to stop the fall.

Postgame notes: Before the game, the Lightning officially recalled LW Michael Bournival and RW Erik Condra from Syracuse. … , who was hit in the head by Wayne Simmonds late in Saturday’s game, was scratched with an upper-body injury and is listed as day-to-day. … RW Ryan Callahan was also listed as day-to-day with a lower body injury as he makes his way back from off-season hip surgery. … D Braydon Coburn missed his second consecutive game with an upper-body injury. … D Jason Garrison appeared in his 500th career game. … Tampa Bay has reached 119 man games lost due to injury this season. … C Brian Boyle missed his fourth consecutive game with a lower body injury.

My three stars:
1.Penguins D Kris Letang – Goal, plus-1, 6 shot attempts, 3 hits in 27:01 of ice time.

2.Penguins C Sidney Crosby – Even on a quiet night, two assists, plus-2, won 12-of-22 faceoffs

3.Lightning LW Jonathan Drouin – Goal, assist, 7 shots on goal, 9 attempts

Full game highlights from NHL.com

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