3
0
Lightning finally awaken but still find their backs against the wall.
TB-2
FLA-3 (OT)
Sunrise Leads the Series 2-0
Andrei Vasilevskiy allowed three goals on 37 shots for the OT loss. Again, this man deserved better than what the team in front of him gave him for support. There’s not another goaltender on earth who makes the three rapid-fire save sequence he did in the Second Period.
First Period
6:16 FLA Bennett (1), (Tkachuk, Verhaeghe)
15:12 FLA Tarasenko (1), (Bennett, Ekman-Larsson)
Second Period
0:48 TB Point (1), (Duclair, Hedman)
5:46 TB Stamkos (2), (Hedman, Kucherov)(PP)
Third Period
NO SCORING
Overtime
2:59 FLA Verhaeghe (2), (Lundell)
Vasilevskiy was the game’s third star.
The Lightning got bit during another sleepy First Period, especially when Sunrise went up 2-0 on a PP goal off a dive that was rewarded. Kudos to the Lightning for waking up and showing the intensity to pull the game back even in the Second Period, but they couldn’t bear down on their chances to get a lead and fully wrestle momentum in the series away including a 4 minute power play in the Third Period. 23 SOG was better, but still not good enough. To my eyes, this isn’t a talent gap (with one big caveat), this is an intensity and focus gap, especially for the Lightning’s forwards.
It ain’t over in this series, but the forward corps needs to do some serious soul searching because they need to get a much better performance possession and zone time wise in Game Three to stem the tide. The forecheck’s got to show up for 60 minutes (at least).
Mitchell Chaffee had 2 penalty minutes, 1 shot, and 8 hits in 14:46. He hasn’t looked out of place in playoff hockey.
Max Crozier was -1 with 1 shot, 3 hits, and 2 blocked shots in 14:21. I get why the Lightning called him up and gave him the shot with (presumably) Perbix hot. He’s been hot as wild fire in the AHL. But by the Second Period it was clear he was physically overmatched and needed to be stapled to the bench. It seemed to me Sunrise was able to tilt the ice anytime Crozier got out there.
Emil Lilleberg was -2 with 1 shot, 4 hits, and 2 blocked shots in 17:00. I pin the lion’s share of fault on the OT winner on Lilleberg for getting on the wrong side of the puck coming off the wall. Can’t happen in that situation. Can’t. The Lightning have Victor Hedman playing some really good hockey now, but the d-corps seems a shambles after him. That’s the one clear distinction to me. Not that Sunrise’s d-corps is great, but the Lightning’s is just not NHL playoff caliber at the moment.
Box score and extended statistics from NHL.com.
