The back-and-forth was constant—and quick—in Saturday’s Music City matinee, an NHL show that ended as a 5-4 shootout loss for the Tampa Bay Lightning despite numerous leads.
The Nashville Predators utilized a rush attack to erase multiple one-goal deficits and then grabbed the extra standings point on the game-deciding goal from Steven Stamkos in the fourth round of the shootout.
Tampa Bay is now 8-3-2 this season.
“There’s just a little miscommunication on the ice, and it cost us tonight,” coach Jon Cooper said. “So it’s too bad. We let a point slip away.”
Reid Schaefer gave Nashville a 1-0 lead on a rush chance, when his shot from the right circle landed inside the left goalpost 11:14 into the game.
John Carlson tied the game with a shot-pass to the net that was deflected home by a Predators player covering Charle-Edouard D’Astous mere minutes after the Schaefer score.
Tampa Bay regained the lead multiple times but couldn’t pull away—Carlson earned his second point of the night when Jake Guentzel deflected his point shot for the 2-1 goal just 18 seconds into the middle frame, but the Predators tied the game 27 seconds later on another odd-man rush.
Such odd-man rushes were frequent for the Predators.
“Some eager beavers out there at times, thinking you can make a play, and sometimes you have to be in a position to just cut the bait and live to see another day,” Cooper said. “And in the last little bit here, we haven't done that.”
Tampa Bay prides itself on its defensive game, but it wasn’t good enough on Saturday in Nashville. Carlson and Brayden Point both referenced how the Lightning have allowed opponents to fight back on the scoresheet over the past several games.
“We’ve had the lead in those last three or four games too, so I think that’s a contributing factor. They’re sending more guys, they’re playing with a little more north feeling than they would’ve otherwise, too,” Carlson said. “But we’re all good enough to understand where we’re at in the game and diagnose the team and the reads. Obviously there’s some unlucky stuff in there, but we think of ourselves as a really good defensive team, and we’ve just been giving up too many goals the last few games.”
Kucherov’s third assist of the night came 3:23 into the period. His pass found captain Victor Hedman in the high slot for a top-shelf shot that regained the Lightning lead.
"That's Kucherov. Just watch him,” Cooper said. “He's a proud Bolt, and he came in tonight to help us win a hockey game as he's done his whole career here. He gave us a heck of a chance, it's too bad we couldn't pull that one out.”
Scoring quieted for a bit before Nashville tied the game in the closing seconds of the period. Defenseman Jayden Struble found open ice in the left circle and buried a short-side shot to make it a 3-3 game.
The script flips continued in the third period, as Conor Geekie pushed his goalscoring streak to three games and made it 4-3 Lightning with his in-tight shot following a spinning Jeff Viel feed behind the net.
Less than five minutes later, a Steven Stamkos power-play rebound goal evened the score once again.
“It was a combination of a few things,” Hedman said of not being able to hold onto a lead. “Odd-man rushes, obviously we want to get that kill at the end there in the third. But they’re a fast team. They play with a lot of pace, and when you get beat, they’ve got two guys coming through the middle pretty fast. They got us twice, so it’s something we’ve got to clean up.”
Lightning goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy was tested repeatedly in the third period and helped the game reach overtime despite the visitors being outshot 13 to seven. More looks arrived in overtime, but neither team found the back of the net.
Stamkos ended the game on his shootout goal, roofing a backhand look.
Kucherov led Tampa Bay with three points, and Carlson finished with a pair. Vasilevskiy made 29 saves on a night the Lightning went 0-for-3 on the power play and 2-for-3 on the penalty kill.
The team returns home for a two-game stay, beginning with Tuesday’s 7 p.m. clash against the Detroit Red Wings. It’s Tampa Bay's first Atlantic Division contest of the year, and they know they’ll need to be better defensively.
“Blowing the lead, it's happened the last couple of games to us,” Point said. “It almost bit us against Winnipeg and it happened again tonight. It’s something that we’re obviously going to have to look at and take more pride in shutting the game down.”
Benjamin’s Three Stars:
1. Steven Stamkos, NSH (Goal, SO Winner)
2. Nikita Kucherov, TBL (3 assists)
3. John Carlson, TBL (Goal, assist)
