Bolts lose again as slow start continues

by Gary Shelton on November 2, 2019 · 0 comments

in general

Saturday, 4:30 a.m.

The early season swoon of the Tampa Bay Lightning continues. Who knows where they have left their game, but perhaps it was in Sweden.

Okay, maybe not. But the Lighting now head to Stockholm for two games (against Buffalo).

Frankly, getting away from their mediocrity might not be a bad idea.

The New York Islanders took over the final period in a 5-2 victory over the Bolts Friday night. Tampa Bay has now allowed 15 goals in three games and 29 in their last seven.

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"It was a  pretty tight checking game," Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. "I didn’t mind our game. You'd look at the boxscore the next day and say “oh, the Lightning lost 5-2.' Yeah, we lost the game but we had the puck for a lot of the night.

"The guys are trying. The Islanders are a good defensive team.  They kept us to the outside. The chances we did have, we didn’t bury them. They burned theirs. That was it."

The Bolts were tied 1-1 early and fell behind 2-1 in the second. But the Islanders broke loose with three goals in the final period.

"I thought it was tough going in the third period down 2-1," Cooper said. "I thought we deserved a better fate than that.  But you’re down a goal. We pushed. I don’t know if they had a shot in 10 minutes, and they came down and scored -- a little defeating to our guys. They kept battling. It was one of the games where pucks went in for them. They didn’t go in for us."

Yanni Gourde and Ryan McDonough scored for the Lighting.

In the slow start, the stars have vanished for the Bolts.

-- Goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy fell to 5-4. He has allowed 28 goals, a goal a game worse than last year.

-- Forward Alex Killorn has scored only one goal in nine games.

-- Both Steven Stamkos and Brayden Point have scored just one in six games.

The Bolts play Buffalo Friday at 2 p.m. Game two is scheduled for 1 p.m.



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