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Thumbs Up, Thumbs Down: Lightning Stumped by Rinne |
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The Tampa Bay Lightning forgot that today’s game was an afternoon game, and ended up on the wrong side of a 4-1 decision with the Nashville Predators as a result. Despite taking over the game once they got skating, the Bolts were unable to overcome weak goaltending on their end and superbly strong goaltending on their opponent’s. Here are today’s thumbs:
Thumbs Down: The Start
Nashville started this game as though they’d been shot out of a cannon, which kept the Lightning on their heels for the first few minutes of the game. It was almost like Tampa Bay forgot that this was an early afternoon game.
Thumbs Up: The Finish
After those first few minutes, though, the Lightning really took over this contest. As has been the case most of the time against the Predators this season, the Bolts looked impossible to handle for good chunks of the game. Every line was generating offensive zone time, especially through the second and third periods. I’m not sure of how much of that can be attributed to score effects, but it was impressive nonetheless. One of the only things that stood between the Lightning and a win today was Pekka Rinne, who was phenomenal.
Thumbs Down: Curtis McElhinney’s Performance
Another thing that stood between the Lightning and a win today was the performance of their own goaltender, Curtis McElhinney. He helped them weather the early storm, but quickly allowed two goals on clean shots that probably should have been stopped – regardless of how good the shots were. It was ultimately the difference today, with McElhinney stopping only 22 of the 25 shots fired his direction. The Lightning needed more from their backup.
McElhinney’s struggles today emphasize a concerning trend in his play this season. He boasts a 3.19 goals against average and .874 save percentage through six performances this year. We’re not quite in the territory where his starts should be considered “scheduled losses” on the calendar, but thing aren’t exactly going well. The biggest problem is that there’s no consistency:
Thumbs Up: Stamkos Scores Again
It won’t go down as the prettiest goal of his career, but it counts just the same. Stamkos’ third period tally was the 13th of his season, in only 25 games. That’s a 40-plus goal pace for a player who was described by many as “washed up” just a few months ago.
Thumbs Up: The Point Line
Even though they didn’t factor into the offensive equation for Tampa Bay today, the Brayden Point line looked phenomenal. Adding Anthony Cirelli’s unheralded skill set to an already-effective combination of Point and Ondrej Palat creates an unstoppable trio for Jon Cooper. They generated chances, sustained pressure, and countless near misses. Had it not been for Rinne (and the posts behind him), the line easily could have had a couple goals.
Thumbs Up: The Fourth Line Eats Minutes
Pat Maroon’s fights will get the headlines, but if Natural Stat Trick is to be believed then the fourth line as a whole deserves a lot of credit for the way they played today. In limited minutes, the Maroon line delivered an expected goal share of 97.23% by way of giving the Predators absolutely nothing. That’s what you want to see out of a fourth line in the NHL.
Thumbs Down: The Power Play
Had the Lightning’s power play managed to convert on one or two of its three opportunities, this could have been a very different game. Instead, the man-advantage unit went 0/3 and looked rather lethargic in the process. The Bolts failed to utilize their quick feet once set up in the zone, which took away the dynamic quality usually inherent in their power play minutes.
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The Lightning won’t have much time to live and learn from this game, as they are scheduled to take on the Dallas Stars tomorrow.
As always, thanks for reading.
Tampa Bay Lightning Blogger • 
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