The Tampa Bay Lightning dominated the possession battle against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Tuesday night, but ultimately dropped a 3-2 decision at the Air Canada Centre. Against one of the league’s worst five-on-five clubs, the Lightning generated zone time, shots, and quality chances. It wasn’t enough. Toronto goaltender Jonathan Bernier was there each and every time. His stellar play led the Leafs to victory. The loss was a costly one for the Lightning, who now find themselves four points behind the Boston Bruins and only five up on the Leafs.
It’s not often that a team fires 42 shots at the opposing goaltender and loses, but that’s exactly what the Lightning did. Bernier improved his record to a sparkling 7-1-2 when he faces more than 40 shots. This has sort of been the story of Toronto’s season. They were decimated in the Corsi battle, decimated in the Fenwick battle, but they won the game. It’s just further proof that goaltenders can steal hockey games.
After battling their way through a scoreless first period that saw them short-handed for a good number of minutes, the Lightning entered the middle frame and almost immediately fell behind. Just 1:49 in, Nazem Kadri scored his first of the night courtesy of a bad giveaway by Mark Barberio. He grabbed the puck, skated into the Tampa zone, and snapped a quick wrist shot past Ben Bishop. I’ve watched the replay more than a dozen times now, and it looks to me like the puck might have deflected off Victor Hedman’s skate before beating the Lightning goaltender. Regardless, the road team found itself down by a goal early in the second.
Kadri scored again nearly eight minutes later when he undressed Victor Hedman and beat Bishop with one of the prettier high-speed moves I’ve seen all season. Full credit to him for taking advantage of some bad Lightning coverage and making his opponent pay. His 14th of the year gave the Leafs a 2-0 lead.
Unwilling to go down without a fight, the Bolts scored two late second period goals to knot things up at two. Matt Carle and Mark Barberio both scored, with Ondrej Palat assisting on both goals. It had to be hard for the Bolts, who fired 18 shots at Bernier in the second alone, to walk into the intermission tied. It would be easy to make the argument that they deserved a better fate. But, alas, Bernier was there.
As time ticked off the clock in the third period, it looked like the Lightning were well on their way to the extra frame. That was until James van Riemsdyk scored his 21st of the season to seal the deal on the Toronto win. He, along with linemates Tyler Bozak and Phil Kessel, took advantage of a horrendous Radko Gudas giveaway to score the game winning marker. The goal did come with a measure of controversy however, as JVR escaped punishment for a late elbow to the head of Lightning forward JT Brown only moments earlier. Brown was shaken up on the play. It wouldn’t surprise me to see van Riemsdyk get a call from Sheriff Shanahan.
Losing to divisional opponents is never a good thing, but last night’s loss was especially frustrating. I’m sure that a number of teams that have lost to Toronto this year have felt the same way. The Lightning controlled the play from start to finish, but ultimately lost the game. That’s what matters. They don’t ask how; they ask how many. The reality is that the Toronto Maple Leafs secured two points on Tuesday, while the Lightning were left with zero. The team continues its road trip in Ottawa on Thursday.
As always, thanks for reading.
Ottawa Senators Blogger • 
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