The Tampa Bay Lightning didn’t play poorly on Thursday night. They controlled the possession game. They held the Nashville Predators to only 19 shots. The trouble, however, was that they fell behind early and never managed to catch up. They were always chasing. The result was a 3-2 loss and a missed opportunity to leapfrog the Montreal Canadiens in the Atlantic Division.
Unfortunately for the Bolts, a good start to the game went for naught. Despite controlling the pace of play early, the Lightning fell behind. It was Mike Ribeiro who tipped home his 14th of the season, on Nashville’s first shot of the game, to put the Predators up 1-0 at 3:28 of the first period.
Things went from bad to worse only 40 seconds later, as Paul Gaustad scored to make it 2-0 Predators. There was some controversy surrounding Gaustad’s fourth of the season – he barrelled over Bishop after swatting the puck out of midair. Many in Bolts Nation thought the goal should have been disallowed as a result of goaltender interference. I disagree. Gaustad had already put the puck past Bishop by the time he plowed through the crease. The officials made the right call.
Vladislav Namestnikov scored with only 29 seconds left in the opening frame to cut the deficit in half, but it didn’t really change his team’s fortunes. Still, it was great to see the youngster pot his seventh goal of the campaign; he’s been fantastic since being recalled on an emergency basis. The team will undoubtedly try to keep him around if he continues to play like this.
The bottom line? That start hurt. The Lightning deserved better. They outshot the Predators by a 12-4 margin in the first period, yet found themselves down by a goal. It was deflating.
Any life or fire the Namestnikov gave the Bolts was quickly snuffed out when Mike Santorelli scored his 12th of the year about seven minutes into the second frame. That made it 3-1, and all but put the Bolts to sleep. Getting two past Pekka Rinne is an impressive feat – getting three by him is damn near impossible!
Brian Boyle scored that second Lightning goal at 13:19 of the second, but it wasn’t enough. Rinne held the door shut for the remainder of the game, and his Predators walked off the ice at Amalie Arena with a 3-2 victory.
As mentioned, the Bolts probably deserved better. That’s life. They’ll have to move on from this one and prepare for a key stretch against some Atlantic Division opponents. The next week will be a big one.
As always, thanks for reading.