Losing streak continues on the eve of trade deadline day

With the trade deadline on the horizon, Tampa Bay falls to Winnipeg and the losing streak continues to four games. Nothing seems to be going right and with the losses continuing to pile up the division crown is now up for the taking.

Losing Moser

It did not take long for Andrei Vasilevskiy to get to work with the Jets netting the first shot on goal in the opening minute. Lightning continued to start flat on defense and would have to kill off an early penalty that was called on Anthony Cirelli. Penalty kill gets the job done to keep the game scoreless and did not surrender a shot on goal. Instead, Tampa generated a solid short-handed opportunity that was stopped by Connor Hellebuyck. After the penalty Tampa was more aggressive with the puck vying for the first goal of the night. J.J. Moser would leave the ice following a media timeout after what looked like a bloody nose. Half the period would go by with the game still scoreless and the shots even at 4 for both teams.

Defense continues to struggle

With seven minutes left in the period Moser still has not returned to the bench with both sides failing to find the back of the net. Winnipeg continued to apply pressure on the Bolts defense who still could not consistently clear the puck out of the zone. Lightning continued to roll out the six defensemen in pairs of three with the absence of Moser as they opted to start an extra defenseman over a forward. Game remained scoreless after the first period which the Lightning are grateful for considering how poorly the defense played.

No goals on the radar

To begin, Lightning started the first minute of the period on the power play which would be their best chance to score so far. Moser did return to the bench with a stitched nose after sustaining an injury in the first. Winnipeg killed off the penalty, and both teams came up empty handed on the man advantage. Jets nearly struck first with nearly 7 minutes gone by, but Vasy made his best stop of the night to keep the game scoreless. Clearly, goals would be difficult to come by especially with two of the league's best net-minders going against each other. Once again, half of the period went by with nothing to show for from either team. A goal would have to be scored eventually, and the question is who would score it.

Jets are flying high

Eventually, Winnipeg went on the power play for a second time with Brandon Hagel sent off for tripping. Lightning kills off the penalty again thanks to Vasilevskiy who is the sole reason why this game is still scoreless. While Winnipeg's offense is consistently generating chances the same cannot be said for Tampa Bay. Eventually, Jets open up the scoring with a goal from Morgan Barron. Former Bolt Cole Koepke caught the defense sleeping and fed the puck to Barron for the easy goal. At this rate the losing streak would continue with the second period winding down. Before the period ended Mark Scheifele scores to extend the lead 2-0.

Signs of life

For the Lightning to end the losing streak they would have to find goals quickly in the period. Out of the gate the offense looked angry as if they were desperate to score. An early power play for the Lightning that was drawn by Jake Guentzel leads to ending the shutout bid for Hellebuyck. Brayden Point scored in the opening seconds of the power play to give life to the team and cut the Jets lead 2-1. The excitement would not last long as the Jets scored minutes later with Gus Nyquist scoring his first as a Jet to make it 3-1 Jets. Again, Jets score again this time Kyle Connor all alone to make it 4-1. Immediately, Tampa would challenge the goal for offsides as they have nothing to lose at this point in the game. Challenge was successful keeping it a two-goal game.

Losing seems to be their middle name

That successful challenge was the only thing to go right for the Bolts tonight as we all wondered what happened to the team that was dominating the league. As the period winded down it was clear as day that the losing streak would carry on frustrating the entire team. It seems something has to be done in order to go back to winning ways. Vasilevskiy was pulled with 2:45 left in the game but the damage was already done. Jets score on the empty net to extend the lead 4-1 and that ended up being the final score. Losing streak is now at four games and now one wonders what will happen with the trade deadline tomorrow.

Three Stars of the Game

1st star: Connor Hellebuyck - Saved 26 of 27 shots faced

2nd star: Mark Scheifele - 1 goal and 1 assist

3rd star: Gus Nyquist - 1 goal

Up next

With tomorrow being the trade deadline we will update as soon as any news breaks. Whether moves are to be made or not, this slump may cause for changes to be made. Lightning will look to end the skid when they travel to Toronto to face the Maple Leafs Saturday night.