Tampa BAE Lightning RD 1 GM 1 Post Mortem

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Crushed on home ice. Listless. Sad.
A chance to get right.

The Lightning took to their home ice last night hoping to make an impression on the Panthers and set the tone for this year’s playoff series against their cross-state rivals. Instead, they completely pooped the bed.

So, where did things go wrong? A lot of places, actually. Let’s start with the 1st goal.

The Lightning lose the puck battle in the Panthers zone. In a vacuum, not a big deal. Long game—it happens. But here’s what I don’t get: McDonagh makes a move and tries to attack the puck. He whiffs badly. The Panthers blow by him and suddenly its a 2 on 1. Cernak also makes a bad move and tries to take the shot instead of the pass. A weird shot gets tipped past Vasy (who didn’t have a great game).

Bolts get 1 back. Yay! Tie Game! But then with less than a minute left, they give up the lead. How did it happen? This one is much less complicated.

The Bolts lost a face off in their own end with less than a minute to go. Panthers recognize the urgency of the situation and make some good, not fancy moves to cash in. Bolts simply unable to get the puck out and Vasy probably should have had this one.

2-1 Cats to end a not very good first period for the Lightning.

2nd period starts and the Panthers just begin to blow this thing wide open. The third goal was the killer in my opinion. So many bad reads here. Perbix & Lilleberg both lose puck battles and cause turnovers while showing that they are not NHL caliber D-Men. Geekie gets cooked and loses coverage. Vasy makes a save, but can’t cover. Just bad all around.

And, in a rare miss, Nigel somehow allows the Bolts bench to challenge for goalie interference. It is so clearly not. Now, down 3-1 and heading to the PK where things just continue to unwind.

The ensuing PK is made up of Hagel, Guentzel, Cernak, & Mac. Why Guentzel? Because Cirelli got injured and didn’t return. I’m not sure what Hagel is thinking, but he completely leaves the center of the ice exposed. (He’s the guy barely in the screen on the left side) Tkachuk moves in and after applying for his own zip code scores the 4-1 goal.

Another Panthers power play, another horrific PK. The Lightning get completely out of sorts with the Panthers. Again, they let Tkachuk get wide open. Cernak & Mac are basically inside the net with Vasy. Mac is facing the wrong way, and no one catches Tkachuk. Puck goes right to him. Vasy with no chance. 5-1

Lightning get a goal. Who cares. This game was already very much over. 5-2.

And just because the Panthers want to rub salt in the wound. They get another power play. Another great shot. Vasy kind of screened, but not much and it’s 6-2. I’m not going to bother with a screen shot because the sun will explode some day and none of this matters.

The Lightning need to completely revamp their game. They need to play defense much better, need to avoid completely collapsing in the 2nd, Vasy needs to simply be better, and they need to just move on and try again. I’m not sure I would keep much of anything from Game 1.

Time to turn the page.