You could hear the gnashing of teeth as the fans walked out of Amalie Arena after witnessing another Lightning regular season loss to the hated Boston Bruins.
It seemed as if half the STMs had no interest in being at this game as they sold their tickets to Boston fans, and at times felt like a home game for the Bruins.
Lightning Start Quick
The game started quickly for the Bolts jumping to a 1-0 lead on a Nick Paul goal and dominating the Bruins in the first ten minutes.
I looked at the scoreboard at one point, and the Lightning had a 9-0 shot-on-goal advantage.
Then Andrei Vasileviskiy allowed a David Krejci goal to tie the game at one, which would prove to be a pivotal moment.
The Bruins would score four more unanswered goals before the Lightning thought it might be a good idea to match Boston’s intensity and scored two goals in the third period to make the final 5-3.
That Krejci goal took all the momentum away from the Lightning, and Boston controlled play the rest of the way.
The first period may have been one of the best the Lightning have played this season.
However, if this game were a measuring stick to see where the Lightning stand against the best in the NHL, the Lightning came up short on Monday Night.
Lightning Continue To Struggle Defensively
The Lightning, all season long, has had issues on the defensive end. The team is giving up 3.16 goals a game on the season, which is good for 13th in the league.
The problem for the Lightning is keeping the area in front of Vasileviskiy clean. As a result, the Lightning has allowed too many chances in front of the net. This has created second and third chances for the opponent.
Two of the Boston goals were scored on the power play, as the penalty kill continues to be inconsistent.
Jon Cooper gave us his thoughts on the first period and the big momentum shift for the Bruins.
The Lightning has a 10-5 record against the Bruins in the regular season since the 2015 season. But they are 0-3-1 against Boston in the last four games during the regular season.
Yes, the Bruins have seemed to own the Lightning the last season or so. But in the playoffs, it’s a different story. The Lightning is 8-2 against Boston in the playoffs in the Jon Cooper era and has won two playoff series against Boston, both four games to one.
Remember last year, the Florida Panthers beat the Lightning 9-3 early in the season in Sunrise in a regular season game, and we saw what happened in the playoffs. It was a 4-0 sweep by the Lightning.
Let’s not get too worked up about a late November loss to a division opponent. It’s the games in late April and May that count the most.
On Friday Night, the Lightning is back home to take another red-hot team, the St. Louis Blues. The Blues come to Tampa with an eight-game winning streak after a seven-game losing streak earlier in the season.
The game time is 8 PM on Friday.
