from John Romano of the Tampa Bay Times,

Frustrated? For sure. The Lightning fought from two goals behind and nearly pulled off a stunning comeback before losing to Colorado 4-3 in overtime in the opener of the Stanley Cup final.

Angry? I suppose. A team with this much talent and experience should not commit the number of penalties and needless mistakes that led to such a big hole.

Bewildered? Yeah, probably. This makes three Game 1 losses in four tries. The Lightning have been outscored a combined 16-9 in the opening games of a series this postseason and have then gone on to pound teams 46-29 in every other game.

Discouraged? No, absolutely not. And here’s why:

For two periods, you could see a path to victory. You could see a roadmap to a third consecutive Stanley Cup championship. You could see Andrei Vasilevskiy looking like the best player on the ice.

That doesn’t guarantee anything. Colorado is an explosive team and is entirely capable of winning this series in a rout. And, to be honest, Vasilevskiy contributed heavily to Tampa Bay’s first-period deficit. So there is a scenario where, a year after winning the Conn Smythe, he comes up short in 2022.

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