The Tampa Bay Lightning showed a fighting spirit in both halves of their back-to-back trip to Canada this week, but both Atlantic Division games ended with the Bolts on the wrong end of the final score.
Tampa Bay fell 5-3 in Toronto on Monday before being edged 3-2 in Montreal on Tuesday.
The Lightning are now 25-18-3 this season and finish a four-game road trip with another back-to-back, this time in Chicago on Friday and Detroit on Saturday.
“Every game matters coming down the stretch here,” Lightning forward Jake Guentzel said Tuesday. “So, we just gotta make sure we’re getting our points.”
Paul leads comeback bid but Toronto takes Monday game
Tampa Bay made a fight of Monday’s Atlantic Division game in Toronto, but the host Maple Leafs took advantage of Lightning turnovers for a 5-3 victory at Scotiabank Arena.
Toronto led 1-0 just 4:06 into the game thanks to captain Auston Matthews, who buried his shot on a two-on-one rush.
A Lightning turnover at the offensive blueline with 6:15 left in the second period ended with another rush chance for Toronto, this time forward William Nylander, who opted for the shot on his breakaway for a 2-0 Toronto lead.
Tampa Bay didn’t back down from the challenge, and forward Nick Paul’s 12th goal of the season pulled the visitors within a goal of the Maple Leafs. Paul deflected a point shot by Raddysh to cut their disadvantage to 2-1 with just under four minutes left in the second period.
“I think we just beat ourselves in the first,” defenseman Darren Raddysh said. “We gave up a few breakaways and odd-mans and we just kind of went back to what we know how to do, and it kind of worked in the second and third period there. We just gotta start on time and we’ll be in good shape.”
Toronto didn’t wait for the third period to answer the Lightning goal.
Matthew Knies snuck alone to the front of the Tampa Bay net with 22.3 seconds left in the middle frame, burying the puck into the left corner of the net for a 3-1 lead.
“We put ourselves behind. We had a good second period and they just ended up scoring more than we did. Especially at the end of the period, it’s hard,” Paul said. “We pushed back. We put ourselves back in that game and that's all you can ask for and from there, just learning how to finish it as long as we're in the fight, but I think it starts in the first period.”
Raddysh secured his second straight multi-point game with the 3-2 goal on a slap shot from the top of the offensive zone after a won faceoff with 12 minutes left in the game.
Knies scored his third point and second goal of the night, this time on a power play, to restore Toronto’s two-goal lead with 9:51 left in the game. Once again, Paul kept the Lightning within reach.
Paul buried a shot-pass by Brandon Hagel near the net on the power play to make it 4-3 less than two minutes after Knies’ second goal. Tampa Bay forward Brayden Point appeared to tie the game late with a backhand shot that hit the crossbar, but the puck bounced through the crease without crossing the goal line.
Toronto’s Mitch Marner tallied an empty-net goal near the end of regulation for the game’s final goal. Marner and Knies co-led all players with three points.
“I’ve liked our push all year. When we’re down we never give up,” Raddysh said. “We always have a belief that we can come back and tie the game and even win it. I liked our second and third there, we just didn’t get the job done tonight.”
Raddysh and Point joined Tampa Bay captain Victor Hedman (two assists) to lead the Lightning in scoring.
Tampa Bay goalie Jonas Johansson finished with 23 saves.
Benjamin’s Three Stars:
- Matthew Knies, TOR (2 goals, assist)
- Mitch Marner, TOR (Goal, 2 assists)
- Nick Paul, TBL (2 goals)
Late Evans goal gives Montreal Tuesday’s win
Some new line combinations for the Lightning created numerous chances, but a late goal for the Montreal Canadiens resulted in a 3-2 win for the home team at Bell Centre on Tuesday.
Montreal forward Jake Evans scored on a one-timer with 2:15 left in regulation, a goal that stood as the winner despite Tampa Bay outshooting the Canadiens 15-8 in the third period.
“It stinks not to get points but, sometimes it’s going to go like this,” Guentzel said. “It’s a tough way to lose, and it stings right now. There are definitely spots we can build on.”
Leading scorer Nikita Kucherov played with the often-paired duo of Anthony Cirelli and Brandon Hagel, and that combination opened the scoring against the Canadiens.
Kucherov dumped the puck into the offensive zone late in the first period, and Cirelli tapped the puck back to Kucherov in the slot. The Russian forward earned his 70th point of the season by firing a goal through Montreal goalie Sam Montembeault.
Another new combination of Guentzel and Mikey Eyssimont made it 2-0 Tampa Bay in period two.
Eyssimont corralled the puck and wrapped it around the Montreal net in the opening minutes of period two. Guentzel one-timed the backhand shot for the 2-0 lead 2:45 into the middle frame.
Eyssimont and Guentzel created multiple scoring opportunities in their first extended time together.
Montreal scored twice in 1:49 to tie the game in the second period. Juraj Slafkovsky’s shot from the goal line made it 2-1 on the power play, and a one-timer by Alex Newhook from atop the offensive zone tied the teams at two goals apiece 7:21 into the second.
The Lightning pushed for multiple chances in the third period, but Montembeault was steady in the opposing net to keep the visitors off the scoreboard. The Montreal goalie finished with 33 saves to help the home team win despite being outshot 35-22.
Evans won the game with 2:15 remaining, skating unimpeded to the left faceoff circle and burying the one-time shot off a pass from Joel Armia from the right circle.
“It was a close game,” Hedman said. “We carried most of the game, but they got a break there with a few minutes left and capitalized.”
Lightning coach Jon Cooper also felt the Lightning had earned a better outcome on Tuesday. Now he wants to see how the Lightning respond to the recent adversity.
“At worst we deserved points out of this game, but ultimately that's why it's a humbling game. And sometimes you don't always get what you want or what you deserve, but this is character moment for our team,” Cooper said. “We gotta fight through this. So, we'll see what we're made of. This is a tough trip for us obviously, these two back-to-backs. ... It's not in our DNA to be losing hockey games like this, but (if) we continue the effort and play the way we did tonight, we'll be OK.”
Benjamin’s Three Stars:
- Sam Montembeault, MTL (33 saves, win)
- Patrik Laine, MTL (2 assists)
- Jake Guentzel, TBL (Goal)
