SUNRISE, FL: Sergei Bobrovsky of the Florida Panthers makes a save against Nick Paul of the Tampa … More
Nick Paul said Tuesday afternoon the Lightning “can’t think about the long picture here” and that they have to “go out and play a full 60 minutes.”
True, Tampa Bay cannot win Game 6 and force a Game 7 before it plays Game 5 against the visiting Panthers on Wednesday evening. As for a full 60 minutes, well, things looked good for 56 minutes of Monday night’s Game 4 in Sunrise. Then, a 2-1 lead imploded in a matter of 11 seconds in what would of 4-2 loss that put the Lightning on the brink of elimination.
It might be a five-minute stretch, or 4:53 to be exact, early in the third period of Game 4 that will bite the Bolts well into the summer if indeed their season ends against the Panthers. With Florida defenseman Niko Mikkola given a five-minute major and a game misconduct for a hit on Zemgus Girgensons 19 seconds into the period, the Lightning had a golden opportunity to build on a 2-1 lead and perhaps return to Tampa with the series even at two.
Instead, the Lightning, who had the league’s fifth-best power play (25.9 percent) in the regular season, had one shot on goal during an opportunity gone to waste. The failure to generate even much in the way of quality chances was the exclamation point of how ineffective man-advantage situations have gone through four games. Indeed, Tampa Bay heads into Game 5 having come up empty (0-for-14) since Brayden Point connected in Game 1 on their first opportunity of the series. It would be problematic enough if Sergei Bobrovsky was standing on his mask, but the lack of making the Florida netminder work is what has been most disappointing. Including Point’s goal, Tampa Bay has all of 13 shots on goal in 34:34 with the man advantage in four games.
“Good teams are going to score on the power play,” said Lightning forward Mitchell Chaffee, who scored his first career playoff goal in Game 4. “Unfortunately, it does not always happen that way, so we need to be better five-on-five.”
The Lightning, who will be without Brandon Hagel in Game 5 after the forward was hit by Aaron Ekblad in Game 4 costing the latter a two-game suspension, need to generate opportunities with the man advantage. In 4:53 of power play time on Mikkola’s major, a stretch of time that did not have a stoppage until Point took a minor penalty for high sticking to nullify the final seven seconds, they had only five shot opportunities. The lone shot to get through to ‘Bob’ was off the stick of Victor Hedman. In the larger picture, Nikita Kucherov has two – two!! – shots on the goal with the man advantage during the series. It’s not as though the Hart Trophy candidate is on the second unit.
“We try to keep the pressure on them,” said Panthers’ defenseman Seth Jones, who scored the game-winning goal in Game 4. “Our PK has been pretty solid this whole series. We want to force them to make plays under pressure.”
At 3-for-13, it is not as though the Panthers are tearing it up with the man advantage. The Lightning’s issues, though, have been glaring thanks to what they did not do during Mikkola’s major. Alas, that is yesterday’s news and Jon Cooper’s club is not yet eliminated.
“We played well enough to win both games (in Sunrise) and we came up a little short,” said the two-time Stanley Cup-winning coach. “It’s really close, and that’s what makes this Battle of Florida so much fun because it’s two extremely competitive teams that play a great brand of hockey. That’s why you get these tight, exciting games.”
