The Tampa Bay Lightning’s unbeaten streak against Western Conference opponents came to a disappointing end on Saturday night, as Tampa fell to the Phoenix Coyotes by a score of 6-3. On a night that saw so many things go wrong, the Bolts simply didn’t have their mojo going; the Coyotes, to their credit, took advantage. The loss moves the Lightning’s record to 14-6-0 on the season, and to 2-1-0 without Steven Stamkos.

The Coyotes got their offensive parade started late in the first period when Michael Stone hammered home his sixth goal of the season. On the power-play, Stone took a nice feed from Mike Ribeiro and slapped the puck past a screened Ben Bishop. The Coyotes weren’t done there, however, as Martin Hanzal scored his sixth of the season only 57 seconds later to extend his team’s lead to 2-0. Hanzal’s goal was a backbreaker, and one that Bishop would almost certainly like back. From beneath the goal line, the Coyotes’ forward just fired the puck into Bishop’s feet. Somehow it found its way through and into the net.

Unable to use the first intermission as an opportunity to reset, the Lightning fell behind further when Mike Ribeiro scored a power-play goal only 1:48 into the second period to make it a 3-0 game. After Bishop was hit in the mask, Ribeiro jumped on the bouncing puck and knocked into the gaping cage. That goal ended Bishop’s night and brought Anders Lindback into the action.

Richard Panik’s first goal of the year gave the Lightning a little bit of life at 16:19 of the second period. The recipient of a fantastic feed from Tyler Johnson, Panik wired home a Stamkos-esque wrist shot to break Mike Smith’s shutout bid.

It was truly a night of firsts at the Jobing.com arena, as Connor Murphy and J.T. Brown traded goals (each player’s first career tally) 50 seconds apart only moments after Panik scored to get the Lightning on the board. The goals gave the Coyotes a 4-2 lead heading into the second intermission. If there’s one thing the Lightning learned about the Phoenix Coyotes on Saturday night, it’s that they don’t relinquish leads very easily. The game was, for all intents and purposes, over after 40 minutes.

Shane Doan extend Phoenix’s lead only 1:37 into the third period when he wristed the puck past Anders Lindback. With three Lightning players standing right in front of the crease, it was Doan who found and jumped on the loose puck. It was that kind of night for the Lightning. They were losing puck battles, misreading situations, and giving up chances far too often. Lindback, who was relatively solid in place of Bishop, paid the ultimate price.

To send a message to his team, Jon Cooper elected to pull Lindback with just less than two minutes left in the game despite the fact that his team was down by three goals. The move paid immediate dividends, as Alex Killorn tipped home a Marty St. Louis shot to pull the Bolts to within two. That was all the Lightning could muster. Lauri Korpikoski scored his fourth of the year into the Bolts’ empty cage to seal the deal on the Coyotes’ 6-3 victory.

Saturday’s performance wasn’t a pretty one for the Lightning, but give the Coyotes full credit for taking care of business and earning a great victory in front of their hometown crowd. The Bolts continue their Western road swing in Los Angeles on Tuesday night. If they want to grab a victory, they’ll need to be a hell of a lot better than they were against the ‘Yotes.

As always, thanks for reading.

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