TAMPA — Before 2023, you had to like the Lightning’s chances in overtime. On paper, they certainly have the skill and skating ability to excel in the 3-on-3 extra session.
But the 4-3 overtime loss to the Maple Leafs at Amalie Arena on Saturday night was their ninth straight defeat decided after regulation, including three home overtime losses to Toronto in the playoffs. This stretch of futility dates back to Feb. 7.
Including games that ended in shootouts, the Lightning have lost 10 of their last 12 games that went past regulation. The overtime session is a different game, a quick-paced, open-ice back-and-forth that breeds rushes and open looks.
“We’re going to change the way we do it or we’re going to change the guys we put out there,” a frustrated coach Jon Cooper said after the latest loss.
Tuesday’s overtime loss in Buffalo had a different tone to it. Brandon Hagel’s last-second goal in regulation tied the score and salvaged a point on a tough opening road trip that saw the Lightning lose all three games to division rivals.
Against Toronto, they allowed two goals over a two-minute, 22-second stretch in the final eight minutes of regulation and gave the Leafs momentum. In overtime, they barely touched the puck and had just one shot attempt before John Tavares scored the game-winner with 55 seconds remaining. The Lightning were outshot 5-0.
Toronto won the opening faceoff and spread out the ice, even passing it back to goaltender Joseph Woll as part of maintaining puck possession. The Lightning didn’t touch the puck at all until just more than two minutes into the extra session.
Being pinned back in their own zone for an extended amount of time, chasing the Leafs players in open ice and having long shifts all hurt the Lightning, and on the rare occasion they did possess the puck, it wasn’t for long.
Hagel had the Lightning’s only real look at the net with 1:11 left in overtime, but wildly shot high and wide with an open look from the left circle. A few seconds later, Hagel tried to make a cross-ice pass through the neutral zone that William Nylander got his stick on and led to the 2-on-1 breakaway that Tavares buried for the winner.
“You’re going to have to kind of be pushing them, trying to keep them to the outside and skate,” Lightning defenseman Mikhail Sergachev said. “We tried to do that, but they’re great players, they make plays, they pass to their goalie, you just kind of get frustrated … trying to catch them. You feel like you’re always behind.
“But when we had the puck we definitely didn’t do a good job. And we gave it back to them, so you have to be a little bit more patient.”
The Lightning also found themselves chasing five nights earlier in Buffalo. From the overtime faceoff, they never touched the puck. Even when Sabres forward Alex Tuch blew a tire in his own zone, Buffalo was quicker to the puck and spread the Lightning out before Dylan Cozens ended the game with a goal 1:46 into overtime.
Buffalo had four shot attempts, including two shots on goal and an attempt off the crossbar, so they again dominated the ice in 3-on-3.
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