The Backcheck: ‘It’s gotta start now’: Lightning push back but fall in weekend games

The Tampa Bay Lightning closed their Western Conference road trip with a pair of comeback efforts but dropped both games of a weekend back-to-back.

Tampa Bay fell 6-4 in Utah on Saturday before Vegas took a 4-2 game on Sunday.

The Lightning are now 40-25-5 and return home to host the Pittsburgh Penguins on Tuesday. The Lightning will look to return to stacking wins and consistent, sound play as the regular season nears its end next month.

“We believe we’re a really good hockey team over here,” forward Brandon Hagel said. "We have 12 games, and kind of the message in here throughout the guys is ‘Let’s start building something here.’ It’s not just a light switch that turns on 12 games from now. It’s gotta start now.”

Utah holds off Lightning comeback bid

The pushback was there from the Lightning on Saturday, but the comeback fell just short in a 6-4 road loss to Utah Hockey Club.

Tampa Bay overcame two separate deficits in the first-ever matchup between the NHL clubs, tying the game 2-2 after an early two-goal disadvantage before tying the game again 3-3 after Utah had regained the lead.

Utah, though, had an answer for every pushback the Lightning showed at Delta Center to take the win and end a three-game win streak for Tampa Bay.

“You want every cliche in the book,” Lightning coach Jon Cooper said of allowing goals after taking some momentum back. “The last couple minutes of each period and after a goal is scored, and we gave up a couple. … That definitely popped our balloon a little bit when we had to come back a few times.”

Utah claimed the game’s first lead 6:42 in. Forward Jack McBain skated below the goal line on the right side, spun toward the end boards and found Josh Doan in front of the net. Doan was open in the slot and buried the puck for a 1-0 advantage.

Utah doubled its lead with Logan Cooley’s 20th goal of the season on a rebound following a breakaway by defenseman Michael Kesselring. Despite Tampa Bay goalie Brandon Halverson stopping the breakaway, the puck bounced to Cooley, who won a puck battle for the 2-0 goal with 2:18 left in the opening period.

Saturday marked the first career NHL start for the 28-year-old Halverson, who finished with 19 saves.

The Lightning fought back to tie the game, a push that began late in the first period.

Nikita Kucherov drew a tripping penalty with 1:55 left in the first, and the Lightning power play got the visitors on the board with 1:11 remaining. Brayden Point snuck to the front of the Utah net, where Jake Guentzel found him with a pass after Oliver Bjorkstrand forced a turnover behind the goal line.

Bolts forward Anthony Cirelli tied the game at two goals a side 5:22 into the second, burying a one-timer from the slot off a pass from Brandon Hagel in the left corner.

Utah’s Alexander Kerfoot tipped home a shot 36 seconds after the Cirelli goal to regain a 3-2 lead.

“It would always be easier to not get scored on right away, but you’ve got to give credit to them,” defenseman JJ Moser said. “They were resilient. They always came back when we scored and had an answer for that.”

The Lightning again had a response, as Jake Guentzel tied the game 3-3 with 2:37 left in the middle frame. Guentzel deflected home a Nick Perbix shot from the right point for his 34th goal of the season.

The tie was short lived once again, as Cooley’s second goal of the game came 30 seconds later for a 4-3 Utah lead after two periods.

“I think that was our best period,” Point said. “Our structure was good there, we were playing simple. That's kind of what you’ve got to do against these really skilled teams that are fast is you kind of try to put pucks behind them and make them defend, and I think in the second we did that. But they were able to get us the rest of the game.”

Nick Schmaltz extended the home team’s lead to 5-3 70 seconds into the third period.

Point’s second goal of the day pulled the Lightning within a goal of Utah, which made the score final with an empty-net goal in the game’s final minute.

“You’ve gotta be in the right spots and guys gotta be ready supporting each other, and when we get the puck we’ve got to make plays on the tape because they are so fast and they’re on top of you and racing back,” Point said. “I think tonight we were a little off and obviously they played really well.”

Guentzel led the Lightning on offense with a goal and two assists, while Cooley and Schmaltz each had three points.

Benjamin’s Three Stars:

• Logan Cooley, UTA (2 goals, assist)

• Nick Schmaltz, UTA (Goal, 2 assists)

• Jake Guentzel, TBL (Goal, 2 assists)

First period goals enough for Vegas despite Lightning rally try

A fast start by the Vegas Golden Knights and a strong night for their goaltender handed Tampa Bay a 4-2 loss on Sunday to close the back-to-back.

Tampa Bay attempted to overcome an early deficit for the second straight night, but Vegas’ 3-0 lead through the opening 20 minutes proved to be enough of a cushion.

“Couldn’t give them the lead like that. We did, and it was too much for us,” Cooper said.

Vegas opened the scoring on a power-play goal from Nicolas Roy 11:02 into the game. Teammate William Karlsson walked toward the net on the left side of the offensive zone before finding Roy open in front of Tampa Bay’s net, and the latter scored on a one-timer.

Tomas Hertl doubled the Vegas lead two minutes, 31 seconds later on a shot from the high slot.

Jack Eichel made it 3-0 with a goal just after Tampa Bay killed a penalty. Golden Knights defenseman Zach Whitecloud kept the puck in the offensive zone at the right point and fed Eichel for a one-timer at the left circle, one that beat Lightning goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy with 47 seconds left in the period.

“That last goal at the end of the first period, we’re out of the penalty kill, kind of played for a break, it didn’t work out. They buried it,” Cooper said. “Now you’re down three with two (periods) to go. Against a team like that, it’s tough to come back. It was an effort, but in the end clearly that start for us is not what we needed.”

Tampa Bay showed some fight in period two, and results followed—Nick Paul scored the lone goal in the second to cut the Lightning deficit to two goals as the team outshot Vegas 15-8.

Gage Goncalves tapped a neutral zone pass to Paul, who crashed his way into the right side of the zone before ripping a snap shot into the top left corner of the net on a 2-on-1 with 2:22 left in the period.

“I think we dialed in the offense a little bit,” Hagel said of the second period. “We had our shots, we had our looks. I think some of them just didn’t go in for us.”

Vegas added an empty-net goal in the third period before Kucherov closed the scoring in the game’s final seconds.

Kucherov zipped a one-timer from the right side of a Lightning power play to make it 4-2 with five seconds left in the game. The goal was Kucherov’s 30th of the season, giving the Lightning four 30-goal scorers (Guentzel 34, Point 34, Hagel 32, Kucherov 30) in a season for only the second time in franchise history (2022-23).

Vasilevskiy finished with 26 saves, while Vegas goalie Ilya Samsonov stopped 35 of 37 Lightning shots.

Moser agreed with Hagel postgame, saying it is time for Tampa Bay to sharpen their focus as they push for a playoff spot.

“I think it’s just crucial that we start dialing in the details and kind of get on the same page and just do the simple things,” he said.

Benjamin’s Three Stars:

• Ilya Samsonov, VGK (35 saves, Win)

• Jack Eichel, VGK (Game-winning goal)

• Nick Paul, TBL (Goal)