Sunday, 4 a.m.
The Lightning finally put a good period together Saturday night. Alas, it was only one.
A sluggish start and a sloppy finish doomed the Bolts in a 3-2 shootout loss to Las Vegas. Not even an excellent third period could do anything for the Bolts other than force a single point.
Tampa Bay managed just four shots in the first period an just five in the second and fell behind 2-0 to the Golden Knights. The Lightning rallied in the third, tying the score as they outshot Vegas 17-1 to force overtime.
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However, goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy, normally a rock for the Bolts, allowed four goals on seven shots in the shootout in the loss.
“I think we were passing up shots a lot throughout the first and second periods," said Ross Colton. "We had chances in the slot when we tried to make the cute pass, do too many things. In the third period, we had a shoot- first mentality. We can’t wait until the third period to start doing that."
Colton scored a goal in regulation and scored again in the shootout. Corey Perry was credited with the other Bolts' goal, which caromed into the net off a Vegas defender.
Despite their low shot totals in the first two periods, the Bolts missed 16 shots and had 14 blocked for the game.
"We were slow," Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. "They had good sticks. If you’re going to miss the net that many times, you have to give credit where it’s due. We had our opportunities and some open shots we missed. "
The Bolts are home again on Tuesday night against the San Jose Sharks. The game is scheduled to start at 7 p.m.