Tampa Bay embodied the mantra of the highly quotable Peter Gibbons—“It’s not that I’m lazy, it’s that I just don’t care…—as they got shellacked 7-1 last night by the Arizona Coyotes. The entire team appeared mentally checked out in this last contest of their 5-game road trip. It was sloppy, with the Lightning seeming apathetic about important facets of play, such as transition defense, defensive coverage, and communication.
If anything, the Lightning are fortunate because they could have lost by more. With Victor Hedman injured, the defensive group must rely even more on a transition defense that smothers the opponent and helps mollify his absence. In the Lightning’s own zone, their coverage needs to be precise. Both of these aspects were dramatically absent.
On the first goal, a poor decision by Anthony Cirelli would come back to haunt the Lightning. After 40 seconds on the ice and with the puck in Tampa Bay’s zone, Cirelli decided to pass it back to the defense for a deliberate, direct-pass breakout instead of putting it high and hard off the glass and getting off for the change. Because of the mental error and the fact that all five Lightning skaters were gassed, things spun out of control. The Coyotes began to cycle, the Lightning lost two retrievals after consecutive shot attempts, and then the goal was triggered by a nonexistent closeout on Coyotes defenseman Jordan Oesterle. Oesterle had a wide avenue to shoot the puck through on its way to the net. And Braydon Coburn was completely ineffective at boxing out Brendan Perlini in the paint, so goaltender Louis Domingue was screened.
On the second goal, after a lost faceoff there was a collapse in communication between Slater Koekkoek and Cedric Paquette about who would rotate to the shooter. Ultimately, Paquette was slow to close out on Arizona forward Clayton Keller and instead of blocking the shot it found a lane and beat Domingue. It was slipshod work from two depth players who need to be attuned to avoiding mistakes because they add no offensive value. The confusion in assignment demonstrated that the Lightning were too lax and apparently tired.
On the Derek Stepan goal, Ryan Callahan, J.T. Miller, and Cedric Paquette were caught deep in their own zone and then stopped skating. It was a complete abdication of duties by the three forwards, who, it should be stressed, are not adding much offense as a line and had allowed a goal earlier in the game.
It is not an exaggeration to say that the three-on-two that unfolded for the Coyotes covered half the ice. Perlini even slowed down, allowing the center drive to push back Koekkoek. Mikail Sergachev, Koekkoek, and Domingue didn’t have a chance, as Derek Stepan caught the pass and was allowed to stroll into the low slot and fire a shot upstairs.
The goal that declared the game no longer competitive was similarly hard to stomach. A 100-foot stretch pass was completed to Coyotes forward Vinny Hinostroza. Then Hinostroza carried the puck from just outside the blue line to the middle of the slot, and somehow completed the journey untouched. There was a breakdown in communication between Coburn and Anton Stralman as both stood in front of Hinostroza, but failed to confront him. And the transition defense was present but disengaged, as Tyler Johnson did not make an effort to apply pressure on Hinostroza either.
The Lightning are at their most effective when their forwards use their speed to put their opponent on its heels and smother enemy puck-carriers. It is vital that their defensemen step up and challenge at the blue line or in the neutral zone with the assurance that their hubris is undergirded by a vigorous back-checking effort. Likewise for when the team’s defensemen pinch or join the rush. The defensemen were left out to dry by the forwards, who were slow on rotations and indifferent to transition defense.
I suppose a clunker was inevitable given the team’s torrid start. But last night was a reminder that, on any outing when the Lightning give below-average effort, they can get humiliated.