Closing out games for the Tampa Bay Lightning was pretty close to perfect over the last three to four seasons. When it came to the postseason, they were money from 2020 to 2022.
Since defense and goaltending are a staple of many championship teams, it’s no secret that ability to shut things down late contributed to this team coming within inches of accomplishing the rare feat of becoming the first team to win three straight Stanley Cups. As it was, they went to three straight Cup Finals.
Unfortunately, the 2023 playoffs see the Lightning in unfamiliar territory after four games. This is the direct result of doing something they haven’t done in a while, blowing a lead and the game in back-to-back games.
Plenty of things have attributed to this collapse. The defense hasn’t been blocking enough shots late in games, Andrei Vasilevskiy hasn’t been the same dominant goaltender he was early in his career, and taking penalties at inopportune times are all reasons why the Lightning find themselves on the brink of elimination entering Game 5 Thursday night.
A few other things to note are that injuries, especially the illegal hit Michael Bunting laid on Erik Cernak in Game 1, and the Lightning’s inability to win on home ice have hurt.
Those who watched the Lightning regularly in the 2022-23’ season could probably see this coming. It got so bad that coach Jon Cooper had to bench his three star players during the third period of an early March game in Buffalo. They came out the next day and got shut out 6-0 by the Carolina Hurricanes.
April was a bad month too, as the team only won two games. Conversely, they lost four games which saw them allow a grand total of 23 goals.
Some of that could be the losses of Ryan McDonagh, Jan Rutta, and Ondrej Palat. In their place, the Lightning asked Mikhail Sergachev to take on more responsibilities and have two rookies, Nick Perbix and Darren Raddysh, logging big minutes in the NHL playoffs for the first time in their careers. Both have performed admirably, but you have to wonder if their inexperience is starting to show.
Can the Lightning come back to make this a series, or is this the end for a team that hasn’t been golfing this early in years? Whatever happens, this team can only blame themselves if this series gets away.
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