Tuesday, 4 a.m.
Perhaps the Tampa Bay Lighting should have suspected it wasn’t their night when Anthony Cirelli’s first goal was disallowed for skating into the goaltender..
When it happened again -- this time when the cameras couldn't get a clear shot of the puck over the line -- the Bolts should have called an exorcist.
Yes, Cirelli would later score again — that one counted — but it wasn’t enough in a 4-2 loss to Detroit.
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The Bolts had been on their best run of the year — going 8-0-1 in their previous nine games. But the Red Wings broke a 2-2 tie with 2:40 on a goal by David Perron. It was the first regulation loss in eight games for Bolts’ goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy, who stopped 28 of 31 shots.
Steven Stamkos tied the game at 2 midway through the third period. It was his 31st goal.
Forward Nikita Kucherov, in a race for the scoring title, had an assist. He is tied for the league lead with 127 points.
“If they’re going to score that third goal, that should have been the tying goal,” Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. “It was the second goal that kind of bothered me. We talked about it. We just turn pucks over. We didn’t track it properly.”
The Bolts are on the road on Wednesday night against Toronto. at 7 p.m.