Monday, 3 a.m.
Suddenly, the goaltenders of the Tampa Bay Lightning are facing a firing squad. Maybe two.
The Bolts, who went 8-3 in December largely because of their defense, gave up 81 shots in two games over the weekend. Special teams and goaltending allowed them to steal a game against the Rangers, but the Bolts took it on the chin Sunday in a 5-2 loss to a surging Montreal team.
Tampa Bay struggled to maintain the puck, suffering turnover after turnover, against the Canadiens.
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“We’ve played some pretty good hockey for a while,” Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. “I would be shocked if some of the players didn’t talk about turnovers,. When you’re turning the puck over, you’re really feeling the other team. It’s hard. When you start trying to manufacture plays when you have nothing, that’s when trouble starts. For two games, we turned the puck over too much.
“It was a lousy 48 hours. We got two points out of it. Sometimes, you have to go through a tough game like we did tonight. Our stubbornness is not paying off.”
Goaltender Jonas Johansson faced 37 shots, bult four (plus an empty-netter) got past him.
Brandon Hagel and Nikita Kucherov scored for the Bolts.
Tampa Bay now heads to the West Coast for three games. It will play San Jose Thursday night at 10:30 p.m.