Tuesday, 4 a.m.
When they are on the road, they’re in trouble. When they’re playing against a division team, the situation is dire.
But for the Tampa Bay Lightning, taking a period off in many of their games has been an invitation to disaster.
The Bolts stacked the odds against them in Monday night’s 5-3 loss to the Toronto Blue Jays. They started slowly and lost their third straight game to the Leafs. They’re now 10-11-2 on the road and 3-8 against other members of the NHL’s Atlantic Division.
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.
Perhaps the most galling aspect was another slow start, when the Leafs continually were streaking toward their net with the puck on their sticks. Toronto took a 2-0 lead and never trailed.
“It’s tough when you’re chasing the game,” said Lightning coach Jon Cooper. “Too many times in the last couple of weeks, we’re basically playing a two-period game. We’ve gotten away with it at times, but for the most part, we haven’t. Against good teams like (Toronto), you don’t have much of a chance.”
The Bolts played better in the last two periods, but not good enough. They did get two goals from Nick Paul and one from Darren Raddysh.
Goaltender Jonas Johansson stopped 22 of 26 shots.
Toronto’s top line of Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner and Matthew Knies combined for four goals and four assists.
The Bolts play in Montreal tonight at 7 p.m.