Tampa Bay Lightning see game taken out of their hands in loss to Penguins

by Erik Erlendsson | @Erik_Erlendsson | Like us on Facebook
November 25, 2017

The sky, apparently, is falling all around the Lightning.

Just check in with a portion of the fan base these days as Tampa Bay has now dropped a second consecutive game, falling to Pittsburgh 5-2 on Saturday. It’s the first time the Lightning have lost back-to-back games this season.

Nothing brings out the mass of negativity like a bit of adversity.

But let’s keep a thing or two in perspective, the Penguins had plenty of help, scoring three 5-on-3 goals, and the Lightning did not play as poorly as the outcome indicates.

{mprestriction ids=”1,2″}

First, let’s address the most controversial situation stemming from the game – the officiating.

Tampa Bay was trailing 1-0 on a shorthanded goal from Bryan Rust at 14:36 of the first period. It came out of a poor performance on a four-minute power play chance for the Lightning when Jake Guentzel hit Ondrej Palat in the face with a high stick, which resulted in a bloody nose for Palat.

But late in the period, the officials slanted the game in favor of the Penguins.

It started when Cedric Paquette got his stick up high on Sidney Crosby. The call was originally going to be a two-minute minor as Paquette made his way to the bench. But the officials, who had already taken a look at Crosby to see if blood was drawn, were not satisfied at the first look, so they went back over to the Pittsburgh bench to further inspect the situation. As a former colleague of mine so eloquently put in in my Twitter timeline, “They had to examine deep down Crosby’s nostril for speck of blood. Surprised they didn’t use a otoscope.’’

That started a domino effect of events as with Paquette still serving the first half of the double-minor, Anton Stralmam was whistled for a questionable tripping call at 17:43, a call that infuriated the normally even keel defenseman, that gave the Penguins a 5-on-3. And because there were already two penalties on the board, the Stralman call would not begin until the first half of Paquette’s penalty expired.

But Phil Kessel would score at 18:03, tapping in a cross-crease pass from Crosby for a 2-0 lead. That goal wiped out the remaining nine seconds on Paquette’s call, but left Pittsburgh still on a two-man advantage for a full two minutes.

Crosby cashed in with 34 seconds left in the period on the second 5-on-3 goal in a span of 1:23.

The shots on goal before Pittsburgh first power play chance was 12-4 in favor of Tampa Bay. Granted one of those shots against was the Rust goal, which came after rookie defenseman Mikhail Sergachev made a poor decision to pinch down the middle while on the power play.

Now, I’m not one for conspiracy theories, but the last time the teams met, Crosby was handed a cross checking penalty on the opening shift that led to a Lightning goal. When he exited the penalty box, he complained to the official who made the call and was hit with a 10-minute misconduct penalty.

I’ll just leave that there for you to digest.

The middle period saw the teams exchange goals, and Pittsburgh held the three-goal lead heading in to the third.

Early in the third, it happened again. Tampa Bay already down a man with Sergachev in the penalty box for interference, Dan Girardi was called for closing his hand on the puck as he made a diving play in the defensive zone, slinging the puck out of the zone with his glove.

This resulted in another 5-on-3 chance for the Penguins, and another goal while on the two-man advantage at 4:41.

In total, the Penguins had 2:33 of 5-on-3 time in the game.

On the surface, you can say the Lightning need to remain disciplined. Probably a pretty good assertion. But I also think it’s fair to say the penalties did not fit the actions on at least three of the calls that went against Tampa Bay.

Unfortunately you won’t get head coach Jon Cooper to directly address the controversy.

”Going down 5-on-3, those are tough,’’ Cooper said. “You can sit here and debate whether we should have been down or not. The ref made the call.’’

Now, on to the other part.

As referenced above, the team did not play that poorly. The were done in by the two controversial calls late in the first.

The Lightning came out with a good push to start the game after being called out by Cooper following Friday’s loss at Washington about working hard enough to get a result.

As mentioned above, the shots were 12-4 for the Lightning at the time of Paquette’s penalty.

”I look back and we were, I thought, the better team in the first period,’’ Cooper said. “It was unfortunate to give up the shorty, but it’s a 1-0 game.’’

One might also argue the Lightning were the better team in the second, as well.

The shots were 14-14 in the middle frame, but Tampa Bay hit four posts, created a handful of quality scoring chances that were turned aside by Tristan Jarry. If one or two of those end up in the net, different type of game the rest of the way.

So it’s easy to come out and say the sky is falling just looking at the result. But sometimes you have to go beyond the score to see how and why things ended in the manner in which they did on Saturday.

That’s not to suggest the Lightning were robbed in any way, but the game was taken out of their hands, and in the early stages of the game, they were in pretty good control.

Postgame notes: Before the game, Tampa Bay sent F Chris DiDomenico, who was claimed off waivers from Ottawa on Friday, was sent to Syracuse on a conditioning assignment. … RW Cory Conacher, recalled from Syracuse of the American Hockey League on Friday, made his season debut for the Lightning, playing 10:02 while scoring his first goal late in the third period. … RW J.T. Brown missed his second consecutive game with an undisclosed upper body injury. … D Jake Dotchin missed his third consecutive game due to injury and was placed on injured reserve. … Tampa Bay has a power play in 19 of 23 games played this season. … LW Alex Killorn has 12 career assists against Pittsburgh, his most against any opponent. .

My three stars:
1.Penguins RW Phil Kessel – Two goals, four points, three shots on goal

2.Penguins C Sidney Crosby – Two goals, assist, 15-for-25 on faceoffs

3. Penguins G Tristan Jarry – Recorded his first career victory with 33 saves

{/mprestriction}