The return of Steven Stamkos wasn’t enough to carry the Lightning towards a second straight win on the road.
Victor Hedman was out of the lineup Tuesday night with an upper-body injury and is considered day-to-day. That meant Haydn Fleury was in while Mitchell Chaffee made his debut with the Bolts.
In classic Lightning fashion, they started off strong, giving fans a glimpse of the team they have watched over the years. Nikita Kucherov sent the puck over to Brandon Hagel on his right. Hagel then whipped it over to Mikhail Sergachev and rather than shoot, he sent it back across to Brayden Point who tapped it in to put the Lightning up 1-0.
The Lightning were quick to the puck and quick to get it out of the zone. They held their own well for the remainder of the first period. Unfortunately in the second period, the struggles they've seen throughout the season returned.
Vancouver started to build their offensive cycle and eventually they got a few breaks. They picked off a clearing attempt and Vasilevskiy was able to make the initial save. Then the rebound flew over to Brock Boeser, who was open after Cernak had fallen. That’s when the game started to tilt in Vancouver’s favor.
“It was a bounce here, bounce there, but they earned their breaks and we tried to make ours. They just didn't go in for us,” said Lightning coach Jon Cooper.
The Lightning came out with more pressure in the third, but Boeser’s hat trick paired with Demko’s 22 saves throughout the night were too much to overcome.
“We had some looks and we had enough scoring chances to get more than one goal but we didn't, and it's tough in this league at times when they kind of shut it down. The goalie was dialed in and, like I said, we kept pushing,” said Cooper.
The Lightning will turn the page quickly, as they face Edmonton on Thursday night.