Lightning blows two-goal lead in loss

by Gary Shelton on January 22, 2025

in general

Guentzel has 24 goals./TIM WIRT

Wednesday, 4 a.m.

It is almost February. Does the Lightning feel it?

The jostling for the post-season has begun. Do the Lightning plan on joining in?

The Bolts blew a two-goal lead Tuesday night, losing another road game and another division game. They fell 3-2 to a hot Montreal team. The Bolts, meanwhile, were left to wonder just what happened.



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The Lightning took a 2-0 lead on goals by Nikita Kucherov and Jake Guentzel and seemed to be rolling. But Montreal tied it in the second period, and Jake Evans slapped home the winner with 2:15 left to play.

It was Guentzel's 24th goal of the season and Kucherov's 22nd.

The Bolts are now 10-12-2 on the road and 3-8 in the Atlantic Division.

Goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy fell to 20-13-2, including a 5-8 record on the road.

 “Sometimes you play really well and you don’t win,” Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. “They’re probably clicking their heels in the other locker room that they pulled one out. At worst, we deserved points out of this. It’s a humbling game. Sometimes you don’t get what you want or what you deserve. These are character moments for our team. You've got to fight through this. We’ll see what we’re made of.

“We lacked finish tonight. Some guys who are used to putting the puck in the net didn't’. It’s not going to happen every night for you. Are you doing the right things to get those chances? We were.”

The Bolts face another pair of back-to-back games this weekend. They play at Chicago Friday night at 8 p.m. and at Detroit Saturday at 7 p.m.

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