Bolts snap losing streak with fast start

by Gary Shelton on March 14, 2022

in general

Vasy was srong in the second period./TIM WIRT

Monday, 3 a.m.

There for a while, it looked as if the Tampa Bay Lightning had forgotten how to win.

They were sluggish at the start, shaky at the end. They turned the puck over, and they took so many penalties you thought they were auditioing for a remake of The Shawshank Redemption. In a three=game losing streak, and several sloppy games before that, they looked out of synch, and their results were out of character.



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And then they reminded themselves of the things that made them successful.

-- They got strong goaltending from Andrei Vasilevskiy, who had lost three of his previous four games. Vasilevskiy won his 31st game of the year in Sunday night's 2-1 win over Vancouver.

-- They started fast. That hadn't been the case in their previous seven games, but on Sunday, the Bolts scored their two goals in the game's first 5:06.

-- They finished strong. Former Bolt J.T. Miller brought Vancouver back to within a gaol in the third period, but the Bolts suffocated the Canucks afterward.

‘It’s easier to play with the lead," said defenseman Victor Hedman, who scored his 15th goal. "But we just wanted to have a good start, goals or not. We obviously did. We probably ran out of as a little bit as the game went on."

The game was a difficult one for the Bolts, who had a plane delay coming in from Edmonton, had the back-to-back and had a time change to conend with.

“I don’t think the travel was the worst part," said Lightning coach Jon Cooper. "(We had) seven games in 11 days, the back to back, the time change. A lot went into it. Was it ideal what happened last night? As Vasy said it's better we found out when we were on the ground than up in the air.

"It's part of being a pro. You have to be able to adapt to situations. How can you mentally focus for the game?"

The Bolts other goal was scored by Ross Colton.

Vasy stopped 25 of 26 shot for Tampa Bay.

The Bolts travel next to Seattle to play the Kracken in a 10 p.m. game on Wednesday.


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