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The Tampa Bay Lightning entered Saturday night's contest in Arizona with a pretty good shot at ending their two-game losing streak. I mean you have to have high hopes when you take on a team with only 34 points in 46 games.

Unfortunately, the Lightning were unable to take advantage of a favorable matchup, falling to the Coyotes 5-3. Tampa is now 1-2-1 on their current road trip and have lost 13 of its last 15 road games.

You knew it was going to be a rough game from Ben Bishop right from the get-go. The two goals scored by Arizona in the first period were weak and should have been stopped. Letting in one of those can be detrimental, forget about two. Bishop's night only last two periods but it was surely a night to forget as he allowed five goals on only 17 shots.

Andrei Vasilevskiy did a nice job in the third period stopping all six shots he faced. Unfortunately, the damage had already been done.

What was most shocking about this game is how lopsided the shot totals were in favor of the Lightning. Tampa Bay outshot Arizona 48-23, pouring on 24 of them in the third period. Although credit has to be given to Coyotes goaltender, Mike Smith, we cannot ignore that the Lightning once again appear to be putting forth their best effort when the game is already out of reach.

The Bolts had a strong third period, scoring twice on 24 shots and only allowing six shots from the opposition. Unfortunately, the deficit was already too substantial, being down four goals after the first 40 minutes of play. Putting together a solid period is always nice, but when the game is essentially already lost, the effort is all for nothing.

This current losing streak now has the Tampa Bay Lighting one point away from the bottom of the Eastern Conference. Thoughts of the postseason are turning more and more into dreams, rather than a reality.

The Lightning will get two nights off before taking on the Blackhawks in Chicago on Tuesday night.

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