After their third straight loss, the Lightning are looking for answers to their defensive struggles.
It’s no secret the Lightning are struggling right now. After being shutout at home on Saturday night to Carolina, the Bolts were looking to get the momentum tilting in their direction. That wasn't the case last night and they were shutout again, this time in St. Louis. The last time the Lightning were shutout in consecutive games was during the 2015-16 season.
The momentum was there to start. The Bolts were pushing hard, forcing turnovers and were fully dialed in on the forecheck, something Jon Cooper reiterated during practice on Monday. They were down by one goal at the end of the first period, but were still in decent shape as it concluded. On paper, the Lightning were outplaying St. Louis in most aspects of the game.
Momentum quickly shifted in the final four minutes of the second period when a lapse in defense caused the Blues to score two goals in 19 seconds. The Bolts outshot St. Louis 15-8 in the period but had nothing to show for it on the scoreboard. Goaltender Jonas Johansson helped keep the game within arms reach, making multiple saves to keep it 3-0. It's easy to attribute the Lightning struggles to the loss of Andrei Vasilevskiy, but that's just not the case. Turnovers and coverage mistakes in their own zone have been an ongoing issue this season.
“You can see it wears on guys, too,” Hedman said after the game. “Three tough games in a row. This is where it really tests your mental strength. We haven’t gone through this a lot lately, and some guys probably haven’t gone through it. It’s just how you respond to this. We’ve just got to make sure that the guys who have been here a long time lead the way.”
The Blues solidified their win with an empty net goal and then added one more for good measure with under a minute left to play.
The Lightning recorded zero penalty minutes for only the fifth time in franchise history and for the first time ever in a road game. They’ll have to turn the page quickly as they face Chicago on Thursday for the last game of the road-trip.