Bolts Squander Opportunities in Loss to Kracken
- Mike Smith
- 17 hours ago
- 3 min read
By Mike Smith | Thunderstruck Sports
Brandon Montour scored the game-winning goal in overtime as the Seattle Kraken beat the Tampa Bay Lightning Thursday night, 4-3. Montour had two goals total, while Kaapo Kakko and Bobby McMann had a goal and an assist each.
Despite the loss, the Lightning have earned points in their last six games to keep pace with the Buffalo Sabres in the Atlantic Division. The Bolts trail Buffalo by two points and could have pulled within one with a better performance by the team.
Seattle goaltender Philipp Grubauer stopped 29 of 32 shots. More impressively, the Kraken defense blocked 29 shot attempts to keep Tampa Bay from the back of the net.
Another Game, Another Deficit to Overcome
The Lightning found themselves in an early deficit for the second time in as many games after giving up three Seattle goals in the first 24 minutes of play.
Montour scored his first goal at the 15:18 mark of the first period to open the scoring. The Lightning has just killed off an Emil Lilleberg penalty when Montour drove to the net and caught the Bolt defense flatfooted.
Bolts center Anthony Cirelli scored two minutes later at 17:01 to even the game. Brandon Hagel's shot attempt deflected off the stick of Kraken defenseman Ryan Lindgren and went through the legs of Nikita Kucherov. The wayward puck found Cirelli's stick on the left side of the slot as he powered it past Grubauer.
However, Tampa Bay yet again gave up a quick goal when Kakko scored at 18:12 to put the Kraken back up to enter the first intermission.
McMann made it 3-1 3:32 into the second period when Adam Larsson's shot bounced off Lightning goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy's pad straight to him. McMann was then able to tuck the puck in past Vasilevskiy.
"Why are we falling behind? That's my problem," Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. "We're falling behind. We came back, and you hope that good teams can come back. But we didn't close it out."
"Sometimes you can win the game and not the score. The pivotal thing is that you have to win the score. We didn't do it, so it's a little disappointing."
Bolts Rally, But Fall Short at the End
Lightning forward Jake Guentzel brought the Bolts to within one on a breakaway at 5:56 of the second period. Darren Raddysh found Guentzel streaking through the neutral zone unopposed, and the Omaha, Nebraska native put one top-shelf over Grubauer.
Tampa Bay then capitalized on the power play at 10:18 of the period when Guentzel found Corey Perry in the slot. The goal drew the game even at 3-3.
The Lightning seemed to have the momentum they needed entering the third period. However, it was the Seattle defense that made the difference. Grubauer stopped all 10 shots he faced in the period, and the Kraken limited the Bolts' ability to shoot at will.
Montour then scored the game-winner at 2:47 of overtime to earn a much-needed second point as Seattle chases Utah and Nashville for a wildcard spot in the Western Conference.
"We had our looks. We had our chances," Cooper said. "We just didn't have the pop we usually have, and credit Seattle: they sat there and rope-a-doped us, blocked shots, kept us out, and then when they got their opportunity, they buried it."
Three Stars of the Game
Brandon Montour, Seattle. Two goals, including the game-winner in overtime, gave Seattle two crucial points in its chase for the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Jake Guentzel, Tampa Bay. A goal and an assist. Guentzel has scored a goal in four of the last five games.
Bobby McMann, Seattle. A goal and an assist for two points.
Up Next
The Lightning look to continue to build on their six-game point streak on Saturday with an early game against Ottawa at Benchmark International Arena. Game time is at 1 pm.
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