Tampa Bay Lightning Fall To Florida Panthers In Overtime
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Former Tampa Bay Lightning forward Jonathan Marchessault seals the game for the Florida Panthers in overtime at the BB&T Center in Sunrise.
The Tampa Bay Lightning has reached a do-or-die point in their season. If the Lightning can’t find a way to get back to basics and start winning games, they will be out of the postseason before the postseason ever starts.
Tonight, the Lightning has an opportunity to prove their victory over the Chicago Blackhawks was more than a simple flash in the pan. In order to accomplish this, the Tampa Bay Lightning would need to secure a regulation win over the Florida Panthers at the BB&T Center in Sunrise.
Why is a regulation win so important, one may ask? Well, the Lightning is just one point behind the Panthers in the Atlantic Division. A regulation win would allow the Lightning to leapfrog over the Panthers and into fifth place in the Division. It may not seem like a lot, but every little bit counts at this point in the season.
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The real question is, would the Tampa Bay Lightning be able to pull it off?
Much like almost every single game this season, the Lightning would allow their opponents to strike first. As stinging as this is, what makes it even worse is the goal came while the Panthers were short-handed.
Panthers defenseman Keith Yandle would find his opening and take off towards the neutral zone. As Yandle made his way through the zone, he would pass the puck forward to Vincent Trocheck. Trocheck has Lightning netminder Andrei Vasilevskiy committed to making the save.
Almost like clockwork, he passes the puck in front of Vasilevskiy and across to Jussi Jokinen. Jokinen wasted no time in pulling his stick back and sending the puck flying past Vasilevskiy. Vasilevskiy flew through the air like an acrobat in an attempt to make the save, but it turned out to be too little, too late.
Thankfully, the Tampa Bay Lightning weren’t ready to go quietly. There was still plenty of time left on the Power Play for the Lightning to adjust and tie things up. The good news is, this is exactly what the Bolts did.
The Lightning’s lead point-scorer, Nikita Kucherov, would pick up his 19th goal of the season to tie things up for the Tampa Bay Lightning. Lightning forwards Jonathan Drouin and Alex Killorn would be accredited with the assists on the play.
When the buzzer sounded to end the first period of play, the Panthers would come up with the slight advantage. Through 20 minutes of play, the Panthers would outshoot the Lightning 12-8. The Panthers would also ever-so-slightly control the Faceoff Circle, going 55-45 over the Bolts.
The second period of play would be one of the most uneventful we have seen in quite some time. Both teams would take their fair share of shots on goal during the second period of play, but neither team would be able to pierce the veil and put the puck in the back of the net.
Unlike the first 20 minutes of play, the Lightning would make up some ground offensively in the second. In the second period of play, the Lightning would manage to outshoot the Panthers 12-10 for a two-period total of 22-20 in favor of the Panthers.
Now, the Tampa Bay Lightning found themselves in a very familiar position. The Lightning would enter the third period of play desperately searching for a goal to put them over the top and bring home a much-needed two points. Unfortunately for the Lightning, the Panthers weren’t ready to simply fade to black.
Regrettably, the Lightning would not find the goal they were so desperately searching for. On the bright side, the Panthers were unable to find it as well. Honestly, with the exception of a pretty decent throwdown between Gabriel Dumont and Greg McKegg, the third period was rather uneventful.
While we’re on the subject of Gabriel Dumont, that kid has a rather wicked uppercut. There is no realm in which we’d want to drop the gloves with him. At least as long as we like our jaw in the position it’s currently in.
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When the buzzer sounded to end the third period of play, these two teams would make their way to 3-on-3 sudden death overtime. Before the overtime period kicked in, the Lightning and Panthers out find themselves tied at 12 shots on goal apiece for a three-period total of 34-32 in favor of Florida.
Unfortunately for the Lightning, the overtime period was all about the Florida Panthers. Just 49 seconds into the overtime period, Lightning forward Tyler Johnson would get whistled for Interference on Jason Demers. Needless to say, this was a weak call at best; however, it is what it is. No matter how wrong we may think they are, it’s their decision that counts.
It took the whole of one minute before they would find the back of the net. As you can probably imagine from our tone, it was not the Tampa Bay Lightning. In fact, almost like rubbing coarse salt deep into an open wound, the final goal would come from former Lightning forward Jonathan Marchessault. Marchessault will always go down as one of the “ones who got away.”
The Lightning would bring home one point in tonight’s contest, but that alone was not enough to make any real changes in their standings. While we would not say the Lightning played a “bad” game in Florida tonight, it was simply not enough to get the job done.
There are a mere 31 games left in the regular season for the Tampa Bay Lightning. This may seem like plenty of time to get back on track, but sadly, it is not. Slowly, but surely, the Lightning are playing themselves right out of a spot in the postseason. Coming from a team who’s made the postseason three seasons in a row, this is a rather hard pill to swallow.
Unfortunately, if things continue on their current track, the Lightning are going to find themselves out of a spot in the postseason before the first puck is ever dropped to begin it. The Lightning are far better than this, and everyone knows it.
Given the fact Lightning Vice President and General Manager Steve Yzerman has already gotten down to business and started making trades, we here at Bolts By The Bay have a feeling this is only the beginning of what is going to be a rather intense shakeup. Only time will tell what the future holds.
Next up, the Tampa Bay Lightning (and the rest of the NHL) will hit the pause button as players prepare for the upcoming 2017 NHL All-Star Weekend. Tampa Bay Lightning defenseman Victor Hedman and forward Nikita Kucherov will make their way to the Staples Center in Los Angeles for all the festivities.
After the All-Star Break, the Lightning will head back into the Amalie Arena on January 31st to take on the Boston Bruins. The Bruins are not going to be an easy team to get back on track against, but it’s also not an impossible quest to undertake.
Only time will tell what the future has in store for the Tampa Bay Lightning. Hopefully, the Lightning will find their spark and get back on track before it’s too late.
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