Tampa Bay Lightning hit a new low point in a season full of them

by Erik Erlendsson | @Erik_Erlendsson | Like us on Facebook
January 21, 2017

Winter is coming for the Tampa Bay Lightning.

This hockey team looks too much like a castoff group of Wildings knowing the White Walkers are descending upon them. Hope is all but lost.

It’s time to abandon the village and head for hiding. The final fire was put out with Saturday’s 5-3 loss to the 29th ranked in the league – the Arizona Coyotes.

A loss that drops Tampa Bay to eighth place in the Atlantic Division standings and one point ahead of the New York Islanders, who currently occupy last place in the Eastern Conference with three games in hand.

With that sort of reality setting in, perhaps winter is already here and the time for change is now.

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Tampa Bay lost a must-win game. They could not afford to drop a game to a Coyotes’ team that has just two wins in their previous 15 games.

Following a 1-1-1 start to a crucial six-game road trip in which Tampa Bay left at least two points on the table, losing to Arizona was not an option.

The fact that they did, might be very telling. Falling behind by two goals in the first period was unacceptable. Seeing two short-side goals beat Ben Bishop, unacceptable.

But it wasn’t the worst atrocity on the ice against the Coyotes. That came in the second period.

Cedric Paquette’s late first-period goal should have been a boost to get a desperate team moving in the right direction. A four-minute power play at the 9:05 mark of the second period should have been the fuel.

Instead, this team quit. The power play stayed on the outside, on the perimeter and failed to find the equalizer.

“We have a big moment there, we come out and have a great start to the second and we do nothing with the power play,’’ Lightning head coach Jon Cooper said.

Then, when the Coyotes capitalized on a power play, scoring just as a 5-on-3 power play expired, the Lightning sulked. Their shoulders dropped. And they quit again. Arizona scored two more times, it was 5-1 and the game was over.

”This is obviously a low point,’’ Cooper said. “It’s not because we lost. It’s just because we didn’t play to our capabilities the first two periods. We had a really good thing going the past five games, I really liked our game. Tonight, we just didn’t have that same jam we had in the previous five and it cost us.’’

The real question is what else will it end up costing.

Somebody’s job? Somebody’s roster spot?

It would be easy to point to the third period on Saturday and say the Lighting showed fight. Tampa Bay had 23 shots on goal in the period, four off a franchise record. Two goals were scored.

It was meaningless. It was garbage time.

In some ways, it had the look of the final game of Guy Boucher’s tenure with the Lightning on March 23, 2013, in Ottawa when the Senators raced out to a four goal lead in the first period before Tampa Bay came back to give the illusion of caring with three goals in the third before falling 5-3.

Boucher was fired the next day when the team arrived in Winnipeg.

With the expectations surrounding this team, to be sitting in last place in the Atlantic Division on Jan. 21 was unimaginable at the start of the season. The mere fact that it’s reality goes far beyond a team not living up to expectations.

You can’t point just to the injuries and say that’s the sole reason. Because that does not account for this teams porous defensive zone coverage. It does not account for Bishop beaten twice to the short side on Saturday or going out for a skate while the puck was in the defensive zone against Anaheim.

This team is not in to it mentally this season.

Winter is here. It’s time to move on.

Postgame notes:. Tampa Bay placed RW Erik Condra on waivers Saturday. … D Victor Hedman returned to the lineup after missing three games due to illness. … But D Jason Garrison caught the bug Hedman had and missed the game due to illness, according to the team. … D Jake Dotchin became the fifth player this season to make his NHL debut with the Lightning. Dotchin finished with 11:47 ice time with a minus-1 rating, two shot attempts and four hits. … RW Joel Vermin was scratched along with Condra and Garrison. … D Nikita Nesterov remained on the second power play unit while Hedman returned to the top power play unit.

My three stars:
1.Coyotes RW Radim Vrbata – Goal, four points, plus-3, five shots

2.Coyotes C Martin Hanzal – Goal, three points, won 15-of-20 faceoffs

3.Lightning RW Gabriel Dumont – One of few Lightning players that showed up, assist, 6 shots, 6 hits

Jon Cooper’s postgame comments from Tampa Bay Lightning

Full game highlights from NHL.com

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