Wednesday, 4 a.m.
Maybe the Tampa Bay Lightning need to make a couple of more trades.
Either that, or someone needs to plug the offense back in.
The sliding Lightning took another backward step Tuesday night, absorbing a 3-2 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes. It was the fifth time in six games the Bolts have scored two goals or fewer in a game, and the fifth time in seven games they've lost.
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The lack of scoring punch has to be a concern for the Bolts, normally a high-scoring bunch. But their stars are not shining lately.
-- Captain Steve Stamkos has one goal in his last 10 games.
-- Nikita Kucherov has one goal in his last 10.
-- Anthony Cirelli has one goal in his last 16.
-- Ondrej Palat has no goals in his last 19.
-- Brayden Point has one goal in his last eight.
So who is left to score? Tuesday night, it was Nick Paul, in his first-ever Lightning game since being acquired from Ottawa, and -- with 59 seconds left --- Alex Killorn, who has three goals in his last 19 games.
"Offensively, we haven’t been generating much," Stamkos said. "When we have, it’s not going in the net. We had a couple of posts, a couple of decent chances. We’re kind of stuck in a rut right now."
The Bolts are now six points behind Florida in the NHL's Atlantic Division.
"We had chances to score in the first and the third," Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. "The penalties hurt us and we spent too much time in our zone. If you spend time in your zone, it’s hard to score."
The Bolts will try again on Thursday night, facing Boston in a 7 p.m. game.