What is ailing the reigning Eastern Conference Champion Tampa Lighting right now? The hunter has become the hunted.
It's November 4, however, Tampa already finds itself 9 points behind their division leading Montreal Canadiens. Heading into Thursday night's game in Buffalo, Lightning lead the Sabres by only four points in the Atlantic Division standings. The Sabres have won three of their past four game and have only played 12 games this season.
At this juncture last season, the Bolts were the kings of the castle and every other team in the East were the dirty rascals.
Cue Janet Jackson's “What Have You Done For Me Lately….
Consider this:
The Lighting (6-6-2) were 35-3-3 when allowing two goals or less in 2013-14.
So far this season, Stamkos and his soldiers are 3-3-1 when giving up two goals or less.
The Lightning have now lost five of their last six games after losing Tuesday night in Detroit.
During their early season swoon, the Bolts have been getting better than decent goaltending from veteran Ben Bishop (5-6-1, 2.36 GAA, .917 save %) and youngster Andrei Vasilevskiy (1-0, 3.00 GAA, .914 save %).
If and when their snipers wake up from their early season slumber and start lighting the lamp again, the tension and frustration will leave the Tampa room. Until then, the grips is so tight that sawdust is littering the ice.
Through 14 games played, the Bolts have scored just 34 goals for while allowing 35 goals against (-1 save %).
Steven Stamkos has scored six goals, however, the rest of the Tampa top ten forwards are whiffing at an alarming rate right now. Ryan Callahan and Nikita Kucherov have four goals apiece. Vladimir Namestikov has 3 goals. Andrej Palat, Alex Killorn and Brian Boyle have 2 goals apiece. While Tyler Johnson, Val Filppula and Jonathon Drouin have contributed just one goal.
Now would be a good time for their head coach Jon Cooper and GM Steve Yzerman to mash the panic button.
Stamkos and the Lighning led the NHL in scoring in 2013-14. So, what happened to their offense? The Bolts rank19th (average 2.43 goals per game) in the NHL today.
Where are the “Triplets… to save the day?
Johnson-Palat-Kucherov was the NHL's most prolific scoring line last regular season and also in the Stanley Cup playoffs. Cooper's patience wore thin and he has pulled the plug on the Triplets. For some unknown reason, the Bolts have scored only three combined goals in its past five losses.
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Ben Bishop has lost four consecutive starts for the first time since being acquired by the Lightning in an April 2013 trade. He has started 12 of the first 14 games for the Lightining.
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Opponents have scored first in 9 of the first 14 games against the Bolts this season.
The Bolts were 25-3-2 when leading after the first period last season
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