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Rapid Reactions: Lightning Suffer Disappointing Loss in Overtime

February 19, 2017, 8:38 AM ET [4 Comments]
John Gove
Calgary Flames Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT


The Tampa Bay Lightning suffered defeat in its first game back from the bye week, falling in overtime to the Dallas Stars 4-3. Despite the loss, the Bolts were able to extend their point streak to five games, the longest of the season.

Tampa Bay has now lost three games in a row to the Stars and are 6-3-2 in the first game of back-to-backs this season.

Hot Start Not Maintained

While the Bolts recuperated during the week of, there was a lot of discussion on whether they would be able to get back to the level of play the team was experiencing before the bye week. The first half of period one showed signs of Tampa being able to pick things up right where they left off.

Victor Hedman got the party started early for the Lightning, scoring his ninth goal of the season 3:07 into the game. Later on in the period, Tyler Johnson capitalized on a 2-on-1 during a power play to make it 2-0.

Through the first 12 minutes of the game, the Lightning were looking like the team that went 3-0-1 in their last four games. Then, they began to fade. Antoine Roussel's two goals before the end of the first period not only erased the Lightning's lead, it eliminated any sort of momentum the team had.

The Lightning were able to regain the lead in period two, thanks to Hedman's second goal of the game, but it was clear that this was not the same team that came out firing on all cylinders to begin the game. As the game went on, the Bolts felt the effects of being off for so long and eventually gave up their lead in the third period.

Obviously, it is disappointing to see such a hot start get squandered as the game progressed. However, it was somewhat expected. Tampa was going to be a little out of game shape coming off the bye week and there was going to be some rust. The Lightning were able to mask it in the beginning with an early two-goal lead but could keep it hidden for long.

Power Play Perfection

One aspect of the game where the Lighting completely dominated was special teams. The Bolts were able to go a perfect two-for-two on the man advantage, obtaining goals from Johnson and Hedman.

Hedman continued to show off his effectiveness on the power play, recording a goal and an assist. Since December 1st, he leads the NHL in power play assists with 13 and ranks fourth in power play points with 16.

One Point Isn't Going to Cut it

Yes, it is nice that the Lightning were able to obtain one point in last night's game in Dallas. However, losing in overtime is just not going to cut it if the team wants to make a serious push for a playoff spot.

The Lightning find themselves six points behind both the final spot in the division and the second wild card spot with a lot of teams still in the mix. Tampa Bay can no longer be satisfied with one point. Anything less than two points has to be seen as a failure.

On Tap

The Lightning will face-off against the lowly Avalanche in Colorado tonight at 8:00 p.m. ET.
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