Tuesday, 4 a.m.
The Lightning wanted to finish their home stand with a victory. They just weren’t willing to work overtime to do it.
The Bolts lost 4-3 in overtime to the Seattle Kraken Monday night, winding up a good (but not quite great) home stand in which they took eight of 10 points. However, the Bolts’ extra period struggles continued in overtime. They lost their third overtime game, and they were outshot 5-0 in the extra period.
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In three overtimes, the Bolts don't have an official shot. The Bolts' opponents have eight.
It spoiled an impressive comeback by the Bolts, who trailed 3-1 after a period but tied the game on a shot by Brandon Hagel with 5:28 left to play.
“They played hard enough to get us a point," said Lightning coach Jon Cooper. "I commended them for playing two pretty damn good periods. But it’s the National Hockey League. If you’re going to spot a team three goals in the first period, you’ve got to get four to win the game. Four. In two periods
"People may look and say we lost the game when (Nikata Kucherov) couldn’t complete a tap-in overtime. "We didn't lose it there," Cooper said. "We lost it in the first period."
Jared McCann scored the winner in overtime.
Seattle had come in struggling to score, but they got off 44 shots against the Bolts. Former Bolts Yanni Gourde scored one of the goals for Seattle. Jason Johansson, who had back-to-back shutouts coming in, gave up four.
Tanner Jeannot and Alex Barre-Boulet also scored for the Lightning.
The Lightning travels to Columbus to play the Blue Jackets on Thursday night at 7 p.m.