Monday, 4 a.m.
On the other hand, they lost again.
Yes, you can praise a better effort out of the Tampa Bay Lightning on Sunday. They played Boston, the best team in the NHL, almost nose-to-nose. They were feisty. They gave out a lot of hits.
Ah, but it's a bottom-line world, and the bottom line says that the Bolts lost their fourth straight hockey game. The bottom line says they're 7-14 in their last 21 games. The
Content beyond this point is for members only.
Already a member? To view the rest of this column, sign in using the handy "Sign In" button located in the upper right corner of the GarySheltonSports.com blog (it's at the far right of the navigation bar under Gary's photo). Not a member? It's easy to subscribe so you can view the rest of this column and all other premium content on GarySheltonSports.com.
bottom line says that, unless they turn it around quickly, they will have little momentum going into the playoffs.
The Bolts scored just once -- a short-handed goal by Victor Hedman -- in their latest loss, a loss that added to their losing road record (17-19-1).
Much of the scoring woes were because of Boston goalie Linus Ullmark, who won his 36th game of the season. That's five wins more than Andrei Vasilevskiy, who has dropped 10 of his last 15 (including overtime).
The Lightning's star line of Steven Stamkos, Nikita Kucherov and Brayden Point got off only seven shots, noe of them resulting in a goal.
The Bolts are on the road in Carolina Tuesday night for a 7 p.m. game.