Sunday, 4 a.m.
They are no longer champions. They no longer own the third period. They no longer come at an opponent in waves of greatness.
They are the Tampa Bay Lightning, and so far in this young season, they are just another bunch of guys on skates.
The Bolts lost a 4-3 overtime game to the Toronto Maple Leafs, blowing a two-goal lead in the third period. It was the second overtime loss by Tampa Bay, coupled with two regular season defeats against two victories.
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"It was disappointing the way the players handled the second half of the third period and overtime," said Lightning coach Jon Cooper. "We’re much better than that.
"They played the whole 60 minutes-plus and we didn’t. Again, we left it on our goalie’s shoulders to carry it home, and that’s so unfair. Obviously, we didn’t do it. We didn’t deserve to do it. I thought Toronto played with that desperation and we did not."
Despite trailing most of the game, the Leafs launched 54 shots at the Bolts, including all seven shots in overtime. So you can blame young goaltender Jonas Johansson, but he did stop 50 shots. That’s a lot to ask of a goaltender with little experience.
The Bolts took a 3-1 lead in the first period as Nikita Kucherov took over. Kucherov scored two goals and had an assist on a goal by Alex Barre-Boulet. It was the first goal in two seasons for Barre-Boulet.
The Bolts couldn’t score in the last two periods.
Tampa Bay is home at Amalie Arena on Tuesday night against Carolina.