from John Romano of the Tampa Bay Times,
Twice, they were champions. Once, they were underachievers. Mostly, they were fighters.
Today, the Lightning are something totally different.
They are ordinary.
It’s been many years since that description fit. Probably back in 2017, which was the last time Tampa Bay failed to make the playoffs.
But after losing 5-3 to Florida on Thursday night — their sixth consecutive postseason loss at Amalie Arena — the Lightning are on the verge of being swept out of the playoffs. They are on the verge of losing their third consecutive playoff series after winning 11 in a row from 2020 to 2022.
And they are struggling to understand how this could happen to a proud, accomplished group.
...they are struggling to understand how this could happen to a proud, accomplished group.
They need to look no further than Nikita Kucherov who's been abysmal in the playoffs. He has three assists in three games, and he's been a disaster handling the puck. Maybe he's hurt. Maybe he's worn out. Whatever it is, they can't win without him at the top of his game.
And I'll never understand what the Bolts were thinking at the 2023 trade deadline when thy gave up Cal Foote, a 3rd, 4th & 5th round pick in the 2023 draft, a 2nd round pick in the 2024 draft, and (fer cripes sake) a 1st round pick in the 2025 draft for Tanner Fricking Jeannot. In the 75 regular season games since he arrived in TB, the guy has 8 goals and 18 assists. And worse yet, he only has one assist in 5 playoff games. That's a Ken Holland-level bad deal right there.
The Jeannot deal is one of the worst trades I've ever seen. Even Holland wouldn't have swung that one!
This Lightning team has to be completely and utterly worn down from deep run after deep run, and keeping it up every regular season. That, as much as anything, is why I think they're failing against a hungry juggernaut in Florida.
Hard to bet against a team with Vasilevskiy, esp after a rough year. I think they'll have one more shot next year, if they can keep most of the band together and not make stupid trades.
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