The Tampa Bay Lightning started a grueling 8-game road trip against the Minnesota Wild, who have an impressive 15-4-4 record at home.
The Lightning have been struggling recently, having given up nine goals in their last two games, both losses, and they didn’t fair much better against the Wild. The Lightning had some good moments early in the game with great play from goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy and hard-hitting efforts by Ryan Callahan. However, the Bolts defense suffered a few miscues and an found themselves staring at an early 3-0 deficit.
Final numbers from tonight’s 5-2 loss in Minnesota. #TBLvsMIN pic.twitter.com/zjXm3RvXJg
— Tampa Bay Lightning (@TBLightning) January 21, 2018
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Point’s Career High 19 Goals
The bright spot on the night was Brayden Point, who now has a career-high 19 goals on the season after scoring two against Minnesota. Point scored 18 goals last year in his rookie campaign for the Lightning and could prove to be the offensive spark they need coming out of the all-star break.
Cooper is aware of struggles
“We’re just out of sync. One guy zigs and the other guy zags,” Jon Cooper said after the loss. “It’s crazy how in the last week and a half we’ve just lost our swag.”
Don’t look now, but the Lightning have won only four games in their last 10 – including losses in three-straight contests. With the Boston Bruins now just three points behind in the Atlantic division standings, the Bolts, for the first time this season, are in danger of losing the “first-place” moniker.
Up Next
The road-trip continues in Chicago on Monday night as the Lightning battle the Blackhawks. With just three teams beneath them in the Western Conference standings, Chicago hasn’t done as well as expected this season. However, the Blackhawks are a classic example of having a lot of talent that is simply under-perfroming at the moment.
Something’s gotta give though. The 2014-15 Stanley Cup champs haven’t won a game (two losses) since January 12, and the Lightning last beat Carolina on January 9.
