The Tampa Bay Lightning struggled mightily to produce anything in last night's game against the Washington Capitals and suffered a shutout loss as a result. The 4-0 defeat was the third shutout the Bolts had suffered this season.
Similar to Thursday night, the Lightning fell behind early as they head into the locker room after the first period down 2-0. Unfortunately for Tampa Bay, they could not mount another comeback and just continued to take a beating throughout the contest.
The Lightning looked like a team in desperate need of a break. Not only were they playing the second game of a challenging back-to-back against playoff-caliber opponents, they were doing so with an extremely depleted roster. As if the Bolts needed more bad news, both Jonathan Drouin and Braydon Coburn left the game last night in the second period and did not return.
Tampa Bay will now have a much needed four days off for the holiday break before they take on the Atlantic Division-leading Montreal Canadiens next Wednesday at home. The break could not come at a better time, as the Lightning hope to have some of their injured players back when it is all said and done.
The Lightning are not very far away from getting themselves back in the playoff picture. However, a broken down roster such as this will really struggle to get them there. Luckily, a break in the action will hopefully lead to the return of some key pieces to this roster that are well-rested and ready to get the job done.