Point gained? More like a point lost for Tampa Bay in OT setback to Montreal

by Erik Erlendsson | @Erik_Erlendsson | Like us on Facebook
April 1, 2017

TAMPA, Fla. – For the Lightning, Saturday was about a point gained.

In reality, it was more of a point lost.

The positive to take out of a 2-1 overtime loss to Montreal was the fact that Tampa Bay did pick up a point, which is far a better scenario than getting zero, particularly after entering the third period down a goal to Carey Price.

But, after seeing both Boston and Toronto pick up victories on Saturday, the single point meant the Lightning lost ground in the playoff race heading in to the final week of the regular season.

Tampa Bay, which hosts Dallas on Sunday 6 p.m., Fox Sports Sun, 970-AM, tblpowerplay, fell four points behind Boston for the final wild card spot in the Eastern Conference. The Lightning also sit five points behind both Toronto and Ottawa.

And that’s why Saturday was more of a point lost.

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Montreal can be a frustrating team to play against.

With a suffocating style of checking, it forces teams to fight tooth and nail for every inch of available space. And then when an smidge of daylight even opens up, there is the specter of Price standing between the pipes as the final guard, showing zero panic in his game.

”It was a grind tonight, they play very tight and there was no much room out there,’’ said Lightning forward Yanni Gourde, who has the only goal for Tampa Bay to increase his scoring streak to three games.

The game had to have been a bit of an emotional roller coaster for Tampa Bay, as well.

Earlier in the morning, forward Joel Vermin was assigned to the Syracuse Crunch, a move that was expected after Lightning assistant general manager Julien BriseBois told the Syracuse Post Dispatch that Vermin was scheduled to play for the Crunch on Saturday.

But about 20 minutes after the press release announcing that Vermin was assigned to the Crunch, another release went out saying Vermin had been recalled once again and a short time later he was on the ice for the morning skate.

That meant neither Steven Stamkos nor Tyler Johnson were ready to return to the lineup, which had been anticipated following Thursday’s morning skate. Stamkos has been out since Nov. 15 with a knee injury while Johnson has been out since March 9 with an apparent leg injury.

With neither ready to go, that was a complete turnaround from the expected heading in to the morning skate.

”You are sitting here thinking we are going to get guys back and then we didn’t,’’ head coach Jon Cooper said. “So guys are getting close, it’s just unfortunate that they can’t go.’’

Tampa Bay could use a boost to help a depleted lineup that continues to squeeze all it can out of a roster filled out by minor league call ups.

”We’ve been asking so much from our guys and they just keep delivering and delivering,’’ Cooper said.

That includes Gourde, who has now scored four goals in his NHL career, three of them have been game-tying or game-winning goals as he’s been a surprise performer for a team that has lot a significant amount of its top six forward base.

”He’s been a diamond in the rough down the stretch for us, there’s no question,’’ Cooper said. “He got another huge goal for us. It seems like his goals are getting us points and they are timely.’’

It proved very timely, coming midway through the third period as a deflected puck struck him on the leg and found the back of the net to pull the Lightning in to a 1-1 game.

It also rescued Victor Hedman, who has the primary assist on Gourde’s goal, from having a major gaffe proved to be the difference in the game.

Montreal’s second-period goal came as Hedman came out of the corner with the puck on his stick and was suddenly under pressure near his own crease. So Hedman tried to lay off the puck for Vasilevskiy to cover up. Unfortunately the Lightning goaltender was unable to smother the puck and it squirted free in to the crease and pinballed around for a moment before Philip Danault poked it under Vasilevskiy’s pads.

But as the Lightning have been doing, they found a way to get a positive result to keep the playoff window open a little longer.

”Kind of the signature of this team, they found a way in the third to will us at least a point and give us the chance that we had in overtime,’’ Cooper said. “So I look at it as a complete positive because we got a point out of the game and we can sit here and say, ‘They got the better of us tonight.’ I guess there’s not much wiggle room left, but not getting a point out of that game would have been devastating.’’

One is better than none, but the point lost might still prove painful.

Postgame notes: RW Nikita Kucherov was named the NHL No. 1 star for the month of March after setting a franchise single-month record with 22 points in 14 games, leading all scorers in the league in March. Kucherov also led all players with six power play goals in the month. Kucherov had eight multi-point games, including five consecutive multi-point games. … LW Joel Vermin was reassigned to Syracuse on Saturday morning but was recalled about 20 minute later after it was determined that neither Steven Stamkos nor Tyler Johnson were going to be able to play. … Head coach Jon Cooper said after the game that G Peter Budaj would get the start on Sunday against Dallas.

My three stars:
1.Canadiens G Carey Price – Stopped 21 shots

2.Lightning G Andrei Vasilevskiy – Stopped 34 shots, 16 in the second period

3.Canadiens RW Max Pacioretty – Two assists, five shots on goal

Jon Cooper postgame reaction

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