Wednesday, 4 a.m.
There they were, the Tampa Bay Lightning, trying to dig their way out of a hole. Finally, they had their spark, Finally, they seemed to be paying attention.
And then they tripped over the biggest monster in the NHL.
The short-handed goal.
Content beyond this point is for members only.
Already a member? To view the rest of this column, sign in using the handy "Sign In" button located in the upper right corner of the GarySheltonSports.com blog (it's at the far right of the navigation bar under Gary's photo). Not a member? It's easy to subscribe so you can view the rest of this column and all other premium content on GarySheltonSports.com.
Call it a Comeback Killer, Maybe a Victory Robber. But there is something about giving up a goal when you have the other team outnumber that sucks the energy out of a team, A team has the player advantage, and it is thinking about a tie, and suddenly, it is down two goals.
The Lightning tripped over Sam Reinhart’s short-handed goal in Tuesday night’s 3-2 loss to the Florida Panthers. It was a particularly irksome development, since the Bolts had the chance to overtime both Florida and Toronto in the standings but did not.
“What’s frustrating is the way the game played out,” said Lightning coach Jon Cooper. “You can’t give up as short handed goal. It turned out to be te game winner. That’s not acceptable on our end. I’m not so sure we were physically engaged un this one until we scored”
Playing on their home ice, the Bolts fell behind 2-0 and never led. Aaron Ekblad and Reinhart scored.
Nikita Klucherov scored for the Bolts in the third period, netting the 300th goal of his career. Mikey Eyssimont also scored for the Bolts.
The loss snapped a three-game win streak for Tampa Bay and left them at 17-14-5 on the season.
The Bolts are home Saturday night at Amalie Arena against the New York Rangers. The game is scheduled for 7 p.m.