Coming out of a 10 day break that afforded players time to rest and reset for the stretch run, the Tampa Bay Lightning looked to keep their January momentum going on the road. Unfortunately, the result was a mixed bag, as the team went 2-2 in four road games post All-Star break.
The trip started with a decent first period against the Metropolitan Division-leading New York Rangers, seeing both teams head to the intermission scoreless.
For a team that entered the break with a number of injuries, especially on the blue line, the middle frame in this opening game of the road trip was going to be crucial in more ways than one.
In a horrifying chain of events, the Lightning gave up the game’s first goal. They then saw defenseman Mikhail Sergachev, in his first game back since mid-December, go down awkwardly after getting tangled up with Rangers forward Alexis Lafreniere. Both teams stood huddled together, watching as a stretcher was brought onto the ice to take Sergachev off. He was visibly upset but managed to acknowledge the Garden crowd, which had gone silent once it became apparent he had suffered a serious injury.
After witnessing such a devastating loss, the Lightning struggled to focus on the task at hand. The Rangers added a goal late in the second period, making it 2-0, before Brandon Hagel cut the lead to one in the final frame. Despite playing hard in the final 20, an empty netter sealed the win for the Broadway Blueshirts.
Just 24 hours later, the Lightning found themselves on Long Island for another nationally televised game, this one against the New York Islanders. Jonas Johansson got the start in net, and the team, possibly still reeling from the news that Sergachev was out for the season after undergoing surgery to repair fractures to both his left tibia and fibula, played their worst game from start to finish since early December in a 6-2 loss.
Exiting the state of New York seemed to be the best thing for the Lightning to reset and get back to their winning ways. They started turning things around with a great 40 minutes before a leaky third period made the game more interesting than needed in a 4-2 victory.
To conclude the road trip, the Lightning faced a measuring stick game against one of the top teams in the Atlantic Division, the Boston Bruins. After a horrifying third period in their last trip to TD Garden, one that saw them give up three unanswered goals in a 7-3 setback, the team played solid defensively and got another quality start out of goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy in a 3-2 shootout win.
With Sergachev out for the remainder of the regular season and deep into the playoffs, the team needs to simplify things and do whatever they can to keep the puck out of the prime scoring areas. Done properly, that should limit the amount of shots and Grade A chances either netminder faces. With Vasilevskiy, he’ll give the team a chance to win every night if they help him. This is evident in the Lightning’s 11-5 record since the calendar flipped to 2024. Of those games, only two saw the Big Cat give up just two goals and still take the loss. His numbers reflect this, as Vasilevskiy has gone from a goals against average (GAA) above 3.00 to 2.77 in the span of a month.
Can the Lightning keep winning games? A commitment to playing defense and solid, if not elite, goaltending from both Vasilevskiy and Johansson should see this team back in the postseason.
