Friday, 4 a.m.
New pain. Same result.
The Tampa Bay Lightning continued to wobble along with their season Thursday, losing a 2-1 game to the Las Angeles Kings at Benchmark International Arena.
It was the third straight loss for the Bolts, who played without Nikita Kucherov, Brandon Hagel and, at the end, Anthony Cirelli. The Bolts fell to 8-9 on home ice.
The home record seems to irk Lightning coach John Cooper.
"I don't think we execute at home the way we execute on the road," Cooper said. "The other thing I feel like we're behind at home. When you fall behind, you're putting the game in peril. Teams play D. It doesn't help when you have to chase the game.
"The way we execute here isn't the way we execute on the road."
Tampa Bay is now fourth in the Atlantic Division.
The Bolts took a 1-0 lead on a power play goal by Oliver Bjorkstrand. Adrian Kempe came back with two goals in the second period.
Tampa Bay saw the return of goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy, who stopped 18 of 20 shots.
L.A. goalie Anton Forsberg stopped 31 of 32 shots.
The Bolts play at Benchmark on Saturday against Carolina at 7 p.m.