The Tampa Bay Lightning could not take advantage of another stellar performance from their goaltender, Andrei Vasilevskiy, last night as they lost to the Florida Panthers 2-1 in overtime. The Lightning are 1-1-1 against their cross-state rivals this season.
The Bolts put an end to their longest road trip of the 2016-17 season, managing to acquire points in four of the six games, going 2-2-2.
Regulation brought a lot of strong goaltending as both teams managed only one goal in the first 60 minutes of play. Vasilevskiy, in particular, looked fantastic stopping 33 of 34 shots through three periods. The Panthers offense gave him some very difficult shots to defend resulting from great passing the entire night.
Unfortunately for the Lightning, the offense could not match the effort of their goalie. The Bolts only managed one goal on 32 shots. This has been a constant storyline for Tampa Bay this season. The games the goaltending is hot, the offense can't score and vice-versa.
Tampa now has 50 points through the first 50 games of the season and are six points behind a playoff spot. Sitting in 6th place in the Atlantic Division, it will be interesting to see what Steve Yzerman will do with this Lightning team. If yesterday's trade sending Nesterov is any indication, it appears as though the Bolts general is looking beyond this season when it comes to making trades.
The Lightning will have a four-day break for All-Star Weekend and will return to the ice Tuesday night to take on the Boston Bruins at home.