Lightning loses an overtime game to Wild

by Gary Shelton on October 21, 2018 · 2 comments

in general, Tampa Bay Lightning

Anton Stralman’s goal forced overtime./STEVEN MUNCIE

Sunday, 3:30 a.m.

As it turns out, the road isn't nearly as friendly for the Tampa Bay Lightning as Amalie Arena.

Playing in its first road game of the season, the Lightning suffered a 5-4 overtime loss to the Minnesota Wild. The Bolts led 2-0 and 3-1 in the first period, but couldn't maintain its efficiency.

Mikael Granlund scored the winner with 1:17 left to play in overtime.

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Ryan Callahan scored his first goal of the season./STEVEN MUNCIE

"It was probably very much like the Vancouver game," Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. "You’re playing well, you’re feeling good. We were pressing, pressing, pressing. We scored a few and then we probably got a little bit comfortable.

"It’s funny because then when we went behind, the desperation kicked in and they showed a lot of resiliency just to get a point out of the game. A lot of good things came from it, but it definitely wasn’t our most complete game.”

Goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy suffered his second defeat of the year in one of his worst games. He allowed five goals, four of them stoppable.

“I think they definitely picked up their game and played well for that second and third and overtime," said Brayden Point. "But I think we didn’t play our best after the first either. Give them credit too, but we can do better for sure.

“We had the lead in the third and I took a bad penalty on the power play there, and they cash in just after that power play. That’s tough. That’s tough on the tape. But we’ve got a game tomorrow, so can’t dwell on it too much.”

Added defenseman Anton Stralman: "I think we stopped doing the things that made us successful in the first period. And when you stop doing those things, you take a step back and let the team coming off a back-to-back get back into the game and get momentum and a lot of energy. After that, it was game on and they obviously had a really good push to get it tied and even get the lead. I don’t think it should go that far.

"I think we have to be much better. We have to play our game for the full 60 minutes. We can’t take that, especially that second period, that kind of sets the tone going into the third. That’s on us. We need to execute our game plan and execute for 60 minutes and not just a period here and a period there.”

Stralman was hit in the throat by a puck in the third period. However, he came back to score a tying goal to force overtime.

“It was like watching Girardi last year," Cooper said. "Unfortunately, stuff like that’s going to happen because the players are fearless and they’re doing everything they can to keep pucks out of the net. When you’re defending like that, you hate when you see pucks get away from guys. I know the Minnesota guys aren’t trying to do that. The fearlessness of the players is remarkable.”

The Bolts continue their five-game road trip tonight in Chicago. The puck drops at 7 p.m.

 

 

 

 

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