Bolts stumble against a bad Ottawa team

by Gary Shelton on December 12, 2021

in general

Elliott let in there goals in defeat./JEFFREY S. KING

Sunday, 4 a.m.

Nothing. Nil. Zero.

Yeah, that sums up the afternoon of the Tampa Bay Lightning pretty well.

No power-play goals. No even strength goals. No interest in playing against the lowly Ottawa Senators. No win.

The Bolts, in fact, were as flat as. you might imagine in a 4-0 loss to the seventh-place (Atlantic Division) Senators. They had five power plays -- and a total of just four shots on them. They had 21 even-strength shots, and none of them found the net.











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For the Senators, Brady Tkachuk had a hat trick, and journeyman goalie Anton Forsberg had his first-career shutout.

The Bolts came into the game with a chance to tie Florida for the NHL's best record, and a chance to finish their road trip 5-0 for the first time in franchise history. They missed out on both, although the team found some solace in a 4-1 trip.

“When you get in these road trips, whether they're three games or four or five, you’ve got to take more points than you have games.," coach Jon Cooper said. "We did that. If we lose the first and win the next four, we have a better feeling about ourselves."

The Bolts gave up two power play goals to Ottawa, making for half the difference in the game.

“Injuries are part of it," Cooper said. "We’ve lost some key guys. Our structure is off, too. We have to straighten that out. The best penalty kill is not taking penalties. When you take a bunch of them, you’re playing with fire and we did that tonight."

It was the first time this season the Bolts have been shut out.

Tampa Bay returns home to play a Tuesday night game against the Los Angelos Kings. The puck is scheduled to drop at 7 p.m.

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