One month into the 2023-24’ season and, the Tampa Bay Lightning already have areas that elicit concern among many who follow the team. That includes the coaching staff, players, fans, and the media.
The biggest issue seems to be the Lightning’s inability to hold multi-goal leads late in games. Take two recent games against a talented Toronto Maple Leafs team. They carried a 3-1 lead into the final period October 21 before allowing two goals in the final 10 minutes to send the game to overtime, a period in which the Bolts have struggled to possess the puck, let alone score.
A couple of weeks later in Toronto, the Lightning found themselves up 4-1 after 20 minutes before letting the Maple Leafs back into the game during the final 40 minutes. In fact, they allowed two goals in under 10 seconds early in the final frame to find themselves trailing. Brandon Hagel tied things in the final minutes to salvage one point, but considering the teams woes in the extra period it ended up being costly.
Losing points, especially against Atlantic Division opponents, could hurt this team in the long run. The Boston Bruins are on their way to another division title, yet only five points ahead of the Bolts as of this writing. Detroit, Toronto, Florida, Buffalo, and Montreal are all within four points of Tampa Bay also, leaving little room for error.
Yes, this only discusses divisional games because those are potentially four-point games that make a big difference in whether the team earns a postseason berth or finds themself on the outside looking in. However, blowing a multi-goal lead to the rebuilding Columbus Blue Jackets and coming away with no points is borderline embarrassing. The fact this team fell apart late in regulation twice over a four-day span leads many to question whether the Lightning can turn things around.
It might be early, but I hope they can find a way to hold leads. There’s too much talent on this Bolts team to continue letting points slip through their fingers. Nikita Kucherov leads the league in points, Victor Hedman ranks second among defenseman with 16 points, and even Brayden Point has found the back of the net after a slow start to his season.
Mikhail Sergachev, Nick Perbix, and Darren Raddysh have all taken steps back in the defensive part of their games, though. For Perbix, his struggles after an outstanding rookie season last year have to be a confidence shaker. In an attempt to help him learn, coach Jon Cooper has made the young man a healthy scratch in two of the team’s past three games. Uncoincidentally, the game he played was the one in which the Lightning blew a lead (Monday night in Toronto). Zach Bogosian was dealt to the Minnesota Wild earlier today, however, leaving the team with only Haydn Fleury to take Perbix’s place if he needs a few more games watching and learning. That doesn’t exactly inspire a lot of confidence, but there’s no better options so this team has to make do with what they have available.
Can the Lightning find a way to hold leads late? While unknown, their ability to close out games will be the difference between making the playoffs or barely missing them for the first time in six years.
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