Friday, 4 a.m.
Be careful as you walk around today. A member of the Tampa Bay Lightning might fall on you.
The Lightning, slumping at a time of year teams like to get hot, were clobbered again on Friday night. This time it was 6-1 by the New York Islanders, who kept the Lightning's problems in the spotlight.
The Bolts are 10-16 in their last 26 games. There have been two three-game winning streaks involved, in which the team has flashed hope it could contend again. But overall, it has not.
This season, they have had 19 games when they gave up five or more
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goals, which leads fans to wonder if they can play enough defense to beat Toronto in the first round.
"To win you have to do the right things and play the right way," said Lightning coach Jon Cooper. "If not, you’re embarrassed and we’ve been embarrassed for two nights in a row. If you don’t compete in the league, bad things are going to happen."
The Bolts lost on Wednesday night to the Rangers 6-3.
"Both games, we’ve tiptoed our way in," Cooper said. "You can say it was scoreless after one, but the second period was a by-product of what happened in the first. It’s tough when you’re going in there and not ready to play or not to play in the right way. This is the result."
The Islanders, 24th in the league in scoring coming into the game, jumped all over the Bolts with four second period goal. the goals coming in a span of four minutes and 28 seconds.
The Bolts' only goal came from Nikita Kucherov, his 30th of the season.
The Bolts play at Ottawa on Saturday night. The game is scheduled for 7 p.m.
Tampa Bay's Steven Stamkos played in his 1000th game.