Be sure to 'like' Hockeybuzz on Facebook!
If the Tampa Bay Lightning had it their way, they more than likely would have declined the power play opportunity for when the Vancouver Canucks were whistled for a too many men penalty with 1:42 left in the third period of their 2-1 loss to the Canucks at Amalie Arena on Tuesday night.
The Tampa power play went a borderline unbelievable 1-for-10 on the man advantage against Vancouver’s average-at-best penalty kill, and Lightning coach Jon Cooper was as blunt as Cooper could realistically be with a club that drew their share of chances in the defeat.
“It comes down to putting the puck in the net,… Cooper said of the power play struggles. “And we look at some of the chances we had, we could have easily been 5-for-10 instead of 1-for-10 and we’re not even having this discussion. The guys had some unreal looks, didn’t put ‘em in, and that’s it.…
The Canucks opened up the game’s scoring behind Sven Baertschi’s fifth of the season (and his third in as many games) off a net-front pinball around Tampa netminder Ben Bishop.
But on their sixth power-play opportunity on the night with Ronald Kenins late period tripping call, the Bolts matched the Canucks’ tally with a power-play goal from Jonathan Marchessault with the help from Nikita Kucherov and defenseman Anton Stralman.
With the goal, Marchessault extended his point streak to five games -- the best mark by any Lightning player this season -- and has scored three goals and two helpers over that stretch.
It was a simple execute and shoot from the Tampa power play. And it was somehow their only one.
Deadlocked in a 1-1 duel midway through the third period, the Canucks found the go-ahead marker with Henrik Sedin dishing it back to Daniel Sedin for a slapper that whizzed right by the Bolts’ Bishop and into the Tampa net for Daniel’s 16th goal of the year (and Henrik’s 23rd assist).
“We didn’t have any jump in the first period, and we got a few power plays and it kinda actually stalled our game,… Cooper said. “We just weren’t executing at all.…
The Lightning clearly got better as the game went on -- I suppose 10 power-play opportunities in a game will do that for you -- but it of course came back to their inability to signal the red light.
“We had a tons of zone time, we got Grade-A after Grade-A, and we just couldn’t bury the puck,… Cooper said after the club’s seventh home loss this year. …But that’s kinda been the story of our year.
“So hopefully Santa brings us some goals on the 25th for 2016.…
This was the first time an NHL team went 1-for-10 on the power play since the Carolina Hurricanes went 1-for-10 on the man advantage against the Boston Bruins back on Oct. 3, 2009.
Random thoughts and notes
- This loss put a damper on the positives the Bolts had established over their previous three games -- they had wins in two of three games while scoring 13 goals for over that stretch -- but the overall point of missed opportunities clearly and rightfully loomed over the Lightning room on Tuesday night.
Cooper said in his postgame that when you have nine power-play opportunities (at that point) and have one goal, you feel like it’s a game you’re going to lose, and that’s exactly what happened for the Bolts on Tuesday night. The power play has seemingly been a season-long issue for the Bolts.
It’s cost them points, and it’s cost them games as a whole (like it did tonight).
And while the Lightning remain in a semi-favorable position given the overall ineptitude of the Eastern Conference (they remain just three points out of the second wild card in the East), you have to wonder if the power play will be the big reason why the Bolts miss out on the playoffs this season.
Obviously injuries to countless offensive talents -- Jonathan Drouin, Tyler Johnson, and Ondrej Palat just to name a few -- have hampered the man advantage’s effectiveness, but any NHL team should have more than one goal when you’re given 10 chances in a 60-minute game. Period.
- The 29-year-old Bishop has done just about everything for the Bolts this year. He wasn’t exactly spectacular for the Bolts tonight (the 6-foot-7 netminder allowed two goals on just 19 shots), but it was yet another loss on a night in which Bishop allowed just two goals or fewer. Such has been the case in eight of Bishop’s 11 losses this year. The Lightning are wasting a straight-up dynamite year for No. 30.
- A welcomed returned to the lineup for Cedric Paquette.
In his first game since Nov. 14, the 22-year-old returned to his spot centering the Bolts’ third line, and finished the night winning five of seven faceoffs in 10:59 (34 shorthanded seconds) of time on ice.
Paquette finished the night with two hits, as well.
Up next
The Lightning will return from the Christmas break with a great chance to get their game back on track with a Sat. night visit from the league-worst Columbus Blue Jackets.
Ty Anderson has been covering the National Hockey League for HockeyBuzz.com since 2010, has been a member of the Boston Chapter of the Pro Hockey Writers Association since 2013, and can be contacted on Twitter, or emailed at Ty.AndersonHB[at]gmail.com.