The Tampa Bay Lightning came out strong Sunday, playing the second half of their back-to-back, but the third period unraveled quickly as they surrendered five goals to the Vancouver Canucks.
The Lightning dominated the opening frame, taking a 1–0 lead while holding the Canucks to just one shot and six total attempts. Nikita Kucherov set the tone with a one-timer from the right circle, and Jake Guentzel doubled the lead early in the second.”
The team was fresh off a hard-fought win over the Panthers on Saturday. They looked confident early, but gradually lost their edge as the game went on.
Elias Pettersson’s shot set up Jake DeBrusk for a rebound goal. Things went downhill from there. The Lightning came up empty on two late second-period power plays, both chances that could have restored a two-goal lead.
“It's not going great, that's for sure,” Brayden Point said of the power play. “We’re trying. We had some looks on the earlier one in the second. We’re still working on it, still trying.”
“You want to score, it’s chances. We’ve had chances in these games to extend leads or get us back into games and we're not doing it. So yeah, it's frustrating when you're not scoring. Hopefully we start scoring.”
The Lightning’s power play went 0-for-2 on Sunday, extending a rough stretch to 0-for-9 over the past three games. Slight adjustments that looked promising last week have since slipped. Historically, Tampa Bay has had one of the league’s top power plays, finishing 5th last season at 25.9%. At this point in the season, they rank 29th at 15.3%.
“It’s like the tortoise and the hare. That’s what it was,” Jon Cooper said after the game. “One team got comfortable, and in this league, the second that happens, you’re done. We got comfortable, they stuck with it, and the right team won the game. That’s ultimately it. That’s where the disappointment is because we’re way the hell better than that.”
Despite outshooting Vancouver 30-18, Tampa Bay gave up six goals in only two periods.
“If you’re outplayed and outmanned and your team tries as hard as it can, or is doing all the things you ask, well then you’re just outmanned,” Cooper said. “We weren’t outmanned tonight, let’s be honest.”