Lightning’s winning streak ends against Devils

by Gary Shelton on January 13, 2020

in general

McElhinney lost to last year's Bolts' backup./CHUCK MULLER

Monday, 4 a.m.

After one of the best runs in franchise history, the Tampa Bay Lightning turned into the team that couldn't shoot straight Sunday night.

The Lightning lost a 3-1 game to the New Jersey Devils, ending a 10-game winning streak to former teammate Louie Domingue, who stopped 26 of 27 shots for the Devils.

Not that many were on target.

"We were playing two teams tonight," said Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper. "The New Jersey Devils and ourselves. We couldn’t get a rhythm going in our game."

Part of it was the Lightning kept misfiring offensively.

"I think we missed the net 20 times tonight," Cooper said. "We had another 14 shots blocked. That’s 34 attempts. You’re not really going to give yourself much of a chance. The missed shots really hurt us. We had some pretty good looks."

Still, Cooper was pleased with the 10-game winning streak.

"I don’t think anyone expected us to go undefeated the rest of the run," Cooper said. "We were out of a playoff spot or close to it when this run began. We’ve put ourselves back in the mix. I’m proud of the guys for doing that. It's a hell of a run by the guys but we knew it was going to end sometime."

Domingue won 21 games as the Bolts backup a year ago. He outdueled this year's backup, Curtis McElhinney, for the win.

“We saw that a lot last year," Cooper said. "He was a big part of our team. This was a big weekend for him (he beat the Capitals and the Lighting). He’s a battler. That’s what he did tonight. We made it a little easy for him.”

Tyler Johnson scored the only goal for the Lightning.

Tampa Bay is home Tuesday to face the Los Angeles Kings at Amalie Arena. The puck is scheduled to drop at 7 p.m.


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