Tampa BAE Lightning RD 1 GM 4 Post Mortem

Text within this block will maintain its original spacing when publishedEleven Seconds
From Absolute Elation
To Total Heartbreak

The Tampa Bay Lightning went to Sunrise facing impossible odds. They came out and punched back in Game 3 stealing one on unfriendly ice.

Then comes Game 4 and for about 55 minutes they made impossible odds seem like nothing. They looked ready to come home and make this thing a 3 game series with home ice advantage.

The Panthers opened the scoring after Perbix-Lilleberg again showed that neither of them are NHL caliber defenders and putting them together still over Raddysh is a move I just don’t understand anymore. It’s not defensible to me.

Raddysh is +9 in 73 games during the regular season (6 Goals, 31 Assists). Nick Perbix is +8 in 74 games during the regular season (6 Goals, 13 Assists). Emil Lilleberg is -1 in 76 games during the regular season (1 Goal, 18 Assists). Darren Raddysh was hands down the better player and yet he has been scratched in favor of those two ding dongs. Perbix should be shown the door when the season ends and Lilleberg ought to be traded out with Isaac Howard’s Rights. It’s over. We’ve seen enough.

The Lightning managed to turn the page in 11 seconds after Brandon Hagel took a very dirty hit from Aaron Ekblad that sent him out of the game by scoring two goals. And they held that lead for as long as they possibly could.

But the Lightning fielded a 11-7 line up tonight. And losing Hagel meant going down to 10 forwards. The Bolts fought hard with those 10 forwards, but ultimately they couldn’t muster enough to get over the hill.

And the Panthers got their own 11 seconds. The Lightning lost this game in the same way they took the lead. An improbable set of goals scored in 11 seconds.

And really it’s the first that matters.

On this goal, the Lightning’s top forwards failed them. (Much like they have this for most of this series, but that’s a topic for another day)

Point wins the D-Zone face off, Guentzel fails to clear, Point (and to a lesser extent Kuch) loses coverage on Ekblad, he gets in front of Vasy. Save, rebound, goal.

Look at the game map just before the goal.

Ekblad has skated around Guentzel and Point. Moser & Hedman are playing their men inside the face off circles tight. They’re doing what they probably should have done. Guentzel is challenging the shooter which I’m indifferent too. He’s not the most active shot blocker, but it’s a solid move.

That leaves Kucherov & Point. Kucherov is playing the perimeter near the blue line waiting to cherry pick an errant puck or push back Gustav Forsling if he gets the puck. Forsling is likely offside if he gets the puck so this is kind of a weak argument defending him, but let’s roll with it.

Point, though? Man, he got dog walked here. He leaves the center of the ice completely exposed. It’s too easy for Ekblad.

Tie Game. 11 seconds later and it’s just bad luck. The puck hits off McDonagh who’s in prime blocking position. Vasy is in a decent place to stop it, but doesn’t expect it bouncing off Mac, he still gets a piece of it. It just leaks on him. Has he been great this series? Not really. But I’m not holding this one on him. It’s just a bad bounce.

Panthers lead and that’s it.

We can bicker all we want about the officiating and the missed call on Ekblad. He probably shouldn’t have been on the ice after that Hagel hit and I’m pretty confident he gets suspended for Game 5—if not more. Mikkola also took a run at Girgensons down low. He probably catches a one game suspension, too.

But at the end of the day that doesn’t matter if you’re not scoring goals. And therein lies a BIG problem for the Lightning in this series. I’ll touch on that in the Game 5 preview.

For now, the Bolts go back to Amalie facing elimination. For as strong as they were at home this regular season, they have struggled badly in the playoffs at home. Since losing to Colorado, they’re 1-8 at home in the playoffs. That’s astoundingly bad.

We’ll see what happens from here. It doesn’t look good, though.

Go Bolts.