BOLTS OF LIGHTNING

 A bad segment for Tampa Bay. 1-3 for 2 points. The only reason it wouldn’t be construed as disastrous was because it was four road contests.

 Below are my review of the 4 games and my 3 points of analysis. Enjoy.

REVIEW

GAME 10 LIGHTNING 5 AVALANCHE 2 

The opening tilt of the all-road segment was a 5-2 triumph for Tampa Bay over Colorado in Denver. The Bolts advanced to 7-3 for 14 points. The Avs slid to 5-6 and that equates to 10 points. The Lightning came out of the gate on fire moving out to a 3-zip lead just 5:32 into the opening stanza. F Nikita Kucherov (9) started the scoring onslaught with assists from F Brayden Point (4) and D Victor Hedman (7) at 1:01. F Jake Guentzel (3) made it 2-0 at 3:36 with helpers from Kucherov (7) and D Ryan McDonagh (3) that was followed by F Conor Geekie (2) putting the biscuit in the basket with F Anthony Cirelli (10) and F Brandon Hagel (5) getting the assists. Colorado cut the margin to 3-1 with a power play marker by the end of the first 20 minutes but Guentzel (4) pushed the margin to 4-1 at the 6:28 mark of the middle period with Point (5) and Kucherov (8) assisting. The Avalanche got closer at 4-2 midway through the third period but Cirelli (2) deposited an empty net goal with the assist going to Hagel (6) to make the final count 5-2. G Andrei Vasilevskiy (6-3) made 33 saves on 35 shots.

GAME 11 LIGHTNING 3 WILD 5

 Tampa Bay continued their four-game road swing with a tough 5-3 loss to Minnesota in St. Paul. The hot Wild improved to 7-1-2 and that adds up to 16 points. The Bolts dropped to 7-4 and stayed at 14 points. The Lightning scored first late in the opening period on a power play. Point (7) lit the lamp with assists from Hedman (8) and Hagel (7) at 19:15. The Wild knotted the score in the second period and took the lead early in the third stanza. Guentzel (5) evened the score with another power play goal for the Bolts with helpers from Hedman (9) and Kucherov (9) at 6:23. Minnesota answered with a couple of goals with the last an empty netter but F Nick Paul (4) cut the margin to 4-3 with assists from McDonaugh (4) and D Erik Cernak (4) at 17:34 but the Wild added another empty net score at 19:31 to seal the deal. #88 (6-4) took the loss stopping 17 of 20 shots.

GAME 12 LIGHTNING 4 JETS 7

The third game of the segment was another loss for Tampa Bay by the score of 5-3 to Winnipeg North of the Border. The streaking Jets moved to 11-1 and that arithmetic is 22 points. The Bolts fell to 7-5 remaining at 14 points. Tampa Bay jumped out to an early 2-0 advantage. Hagel (7) scored unassisted at 6:49 followed by a power play marker by Point (8) assisted by Kucherov (10) and Hedman (10) at 8:02. The Jets scored the next 3 goals with one in the first period and the first two of the middle stanza to go up 3-2. F Mitchell Chaffee (4) tied the tilt at 3 all with helpers from Guentzel (8) and Paul (7). Winnipeg scored a power play goal that was answered by Kucherov (10) with an unassisted goal at 6:21 then the roof fell in for the Bolts as the Jets scored the next three markers with the last two into an empty net. G Jonas Johansson (1-1) suffered the loss turning away 27 of 32 shots on goal.

GAME 13 LIGHTNING 2 BLUES 3

The final tilt of the segment was the third consecutive defeat for Tampa Bay this time at the hands of St. Louis 3-2 at the Enterprise Center. The Blues moved to 7-6 for 14 points and the Bolts fell to an identical 7-6 that adds up to 14 points. After a scoreless opening 20 minutes of play and as in the last three contests the Lightning lit the lamp first with D Nick Perbix (1) scoring his initial goal of the campaign with assists going to Cirelli (11) and Kucherov (11) at 2:39 of the second period. The Blues answered with 2 goals in the middle period and then went up 3-1 in the final stanza. Hedman (3) cut the deficit to 3-2 with a helper from Kucherov (12) at 11:53 but it was too little and too late. Vasilevskiy (6-5) took the hard luck defeat turning away 20 of 23 shots on goal.

ANALYSIS

*The Lightning have scored first in the last 4 games is always a positive.

**On the negative side Tampa Bay has given up the lead in three of the 4 tilts leading to losses.

***None of the Bolts 6 losses are in regulation and none in overtime that would equate to one point.