The Tampa Bay Lightning lost their third straight game falling to the Carolina Hurricanes 3-2 on Saturday night at Amalie Arena.
Sebastian Aho, Jordan Martinook, and Jaccob Slavin each scored first period goals for the Hurricanes while James Reimer stopped 36-of-38 shots in the win.
With the victory the Hurricanes improve to 16-10-1 (33-points) on the season and 8-5-1 on the road.
Brayden Point and Tyler Johnson each scored third period goals as the Lightning staged a late comeback attempt. Curtis McElhinney stopped 21-of-24 shots in the loss.
Tampa Bay falls to 12-9-3 (27 points) on the season and 6-4-1 at home. They have lost their last two home games. The three game losing streak is the Bolts longest of the season.
Point’s goal was 10th of the season, a power play goal, cutting the Canes lead to 3-1. Point becomes the first Lightning player to reach double digit in goals this season. It’s also his sixth goal in his last six games.
Tyler Johnson cut the Carolina lead to 3-2 scoring his fifth goal at the 8:50 mark of the 3rd period.
The Lightning fell behind 3-0 in the first period. The Hurricane’s first two goals were the result of poor line changes.
The Hurricanes were given an early power play opportunity after the Bolts were whistled for too many men on the ice. Sebastian Aho took advantage of the man advantage putting Carolina up 1-0. Moments later the Lightning were caught in a line change resulting in Jordan Martinook slipping in behind the Bolts’ defense putting the Hurricanes up 2-0.
Stamkos Says Everyone Is Tired Of Talking About It:
“It’s the details. There’s only so much we can talk about.” Steven Stamkos said. “We’re all sick of talking about it, but we got to do it out there. We weren’t ready to start the game and then played probably our two best periods in the second and third and it wasn’t good enough.”
The slow starts and small lapses in detail have been an issue for the Lightning for most of the year. The remedy for these lapses falls on the Captains shoulders. “It starts in the room with us as players, it starts with myself as a leader.” Stamkos said. “I have to do a better job of trying to lead the way early in games. If I can do the right things the rest of the guys can do the right things. I didn’t do that to start the game tonight.”
It’s About Goal Prevention:
For Coach Jon Cooper, the bottom line is that the team is giving up one too many goals per game. “You give up four, it’s a good chance your going to be in trouble. You give up three the games going to be in the balance. You give up one or two, you’re giving yourself a chance to win.”
While the Lightning only put up two goals themselves tonight, Coach Cooper wants his team to focus on goal prevention first and foremost. “In this league, it’s not how many you score, it’s how many you keep out.”
Injuries:
Braydon Coburn is out indefinitely with a lower body injured suffered in the Bolts 4-3 loss to the Washington Capitals on Friday night.
Alex Killorn missed tonight’s contest against Carolina with a lower body injury also suffered against the Capitals. Killorn’s injury, unlike Coburn’s, is considered day-to-day.
Up Next For Lightning:
The Tampa Bay Lightning will head to Nashville to take on the Predators on Tuesday night at 8:00. It will be the Bolts only trip to Nashville this season. The two teams matched up at Amalie Arena on October 26th and the Lightning were on the wrong end of a 3-2 overtime loss.
