4
0
Lightning still struggling to calibrate.
TB-2
OTT-5
Matt Tomkins allowed four goals on 37 shots for the loss. Strongly suspect the northern hockey media will look at these last two results and blame the goaltending, but that’s not where the problem lies.
First Period
7:02 OTT Tarasenko (1), (Grieg, Chychrun)
Second Period
1:00 TB Cirelli (1), (Raddysh, Jeannot)
8:48 OTT Tkachuk (3), (Giroux)
13:00 TB Jeannot (1), (Eyssimont, Hedman)
19:01 OTT Joseph (2), (Tarasenko)
Third Period
12:53 OTT Tkachuk (4), (Sanderson, Zub)
17:17 OTT Stutzle (2), (Tkachuk, Korpisalo)(EN)
It was a little better than the Detroit game, but it still wasn’t good. Puck management remains subpar. Defensive coverage is still getting sharpened up. The breakout just never looks altogether convincing and threatening. Everything they put together in the offensive zone at evens seems to be contested and from the perimeter and there’s very little coming off the rush with speed. Will it get better? Almost certainly. They were, after all, playing this game without Steven Stamkos who I believe pulled something trying to execute a reverse hit in the Red Wings match. But it’s horribly un-entertaining hockey to watch at the moment.
Alex Barre-Boulet was -2 with 2 shots in 10:49. He had at least one decent chance, but it’s still not happening at the NHL level.
Waltteri Merala played 11:19. We’re three games into his NHL adventure, and thus far he’s been so impactful as to possibly draw the moniker of Finnish Cole Koepke. It’s very hard to play 11 minutes of hockey and do nothing on the scoresheet, good or bad.
Box score and extended statistics from NHL.com.
