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# Tampa BAE Lightning Post Mortem Game 1: Boom & Bust
- URL: https://www.bayareaexaminer.com/tampa-bae-lightning-post-mortem-game/
- Published: 2025-10-10T03:55:01.000Z
- Updated: 2025-10-10T03:55:01.000Z
- Description: It's Haiku Time Already!
- Author: Collin Sherwin
- Tags: #Migrated-1792597384348, #Import 2026-10-21 15:44

Text within this block will maintain its original spacing when publishedOpening Night Fun  
Miserable Second Half  
*Winless in Benchmark*

The Tampa Bay Lightning christened the newly named Benchmark International Arena with an exciting opening period that saw them jump physically and mentally all over the Ottawa Senator culminating in a 3-1 lead going into the second period before completely falling flat and losing 5-4.

Curtis Douglas got the crowd going nine seconds into his shift by dominating a fight. The Bolts pushed and scrapped. They looked like an energized team ready to give their home fans a win on Opening Night.

Things unraveled pretty poorly from there. The Senators scored three unanswered goals. The Lightning didn’t have a shot for 18 minutes 50 seconds from the second into the third. While the entire team deserves critique, Darren Raddysh had two horrible plays leading directly to Ottawa goals.

On the game tying goal, he was beat off the bench while changing and a stretch pass got behind him. He opted not to take penalty and instead the puck went in on Vasy (who also deserves some criticism) as he failed to get his stick down and left the 5-hole so open a semi-truck could have driven through.

Then on the go-ahead goal, Raddysh makes a really bad read and passes it right into a Senators’ stick blade. The turnover comes back all the way and ends up in the net with less than two minutes to go and that’s all it took.

This game started VERY good. It was exciting. The crowd was into it. And then it completely went bust. Sitting in the stands, it almost felt inevitable from the middle of the 2nd period on. The Bolts just got outworked. The Senators were all over them. It never felt like they threatened for the remainder of the game.

The Bolts lose their home opener for the first time since the 2022-2023 Season. With the loss, they also start in the hole in their own division. Yes, it’s a long season and there is plenty of time to correct. There is also a lot to not like about how this went.

They need to have a short memory because the New Jersey Devils come to town on Saturday night. Hopefully, they get it right because two home losses in a row to start the season? Yeesh. Let’s not go there. Yet.

Eat at Arby’s. Go Bolts.