from Joe Smith of The Athletic,

This is what a team that has lost its confidence looks like.

The score is tied with four minutes to go at TD Garden, and the Lightning’s top line is on the ice: Nikita Kucherov, Brayden Point and Anthony Cirelli. The puck moves up the boards in the defensive zone to Kucherov, who tries to thread a pass up the middle to a streaking Cirelli. The pass is a little behind and bounces off Cirelli’s skate for a turnover. A few seconds later, David Pastrnak scores the game winner, his shot bouncing off Andrei Vasilevskiy’s glove. Hundreds of hats get tossed on the ice.

The back-to-back Stanley Cup champs can’t seem to get out of their own way and are struggling to dig themselves out of their recent funk. They’ve lost six of their past eight games and fallen to a wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference. No, their playoff hopes aren’t in real danger. No, fans shouldn’t be freaking out quite yet.

But there should be some level of concern here for a championship group that has looked like anything but that for a month.

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