TAMPA — This Lightning team is beginning to think it is star-crossed in overtime.
Following their 4-3 loss to the Seattle Kraken Monday night, their third straight overtime loss and 10th consecutive loss in games decided in the overtime session dating to last season (including three home playoff losses to Toronto), players were reaching for answers for their overtime struggles but could find few.
“I don’t know, I think we’re just cursed right now,” Lightning forward Brandon Hagel said.
“I don’t even know what to say. I think everyone knows what our record is in overtime, whether it’s playoffs or now, (we’ve) got to find a way to get out of it. Eventually, we will sooner than later. I think it’s gone on for too long.”
Despite a third-period comeback that forced the extra session, the Lightning found themselves in a similar situation in overtime, barely touching the puck before seemingly inevitable misfortune. After Nick Paul’s hooking penalty 1:59 into overtime gave Seattle a 4-on-3 power play, Kraken forward Jared McCann scored the game-winner with 2:07 left in overtime, rifling a one-timer from above the circles that beat Lightning goaltender Jonas Johansson on his glove side.
“It’s not like we go out there and not try to get the puck or not try to score,” said Hagel, whose goal with 5:28 left in regulation forced overtime. “It’s just one of those things that’s come to haunt us and we just can’t find a way out of it right now.”
Overtime losses this season in Buffalo and at home against Toronto played out to the same script, with the Lightning chasing the puck from the beginning of the 3-on-3.
“It comes down to, we haven’t won a faceoff in overtime. If you’re not going to win faceoffs and you’re going to take penalties, it’s really hard to do anything in overtime,” Lightning coach Jon Cooper said.
The Lightning (4-2-3, 11 points) had one glorious scoring opportunity in overtime but Nikita Kucherov couldn’t bury a chance on a 2-on-1 breakaway. In the final minute of regulation, Tanner Jeannot’s look at an open net hit off the post.
Despite the Lightning’s overtime woes, Cooper said the game was decided earlier, when the Lightning gave up three goals over a three-minute, 44-second stretch in the first period, including their first two at even strength one minute apart. All three goals came with the Lightning playing loose in front of their own net.
“We played hard enough to get us a point,” Cooper said.
“I told the guys in the locker room, I commended them for playing two pretty damn good periods. But this is the National Hockey League. If you’re going to spot a team three goals in the first period, you’ve got to get four to win the game. People are going to say, you hit a post here, you missed this here, that’s not where the game was lost. The game was lost in the first period.”
Hagel’s game-tying goal came after he circled around the back of the net and put a puck on net from the right circle that hit off a Kraken player and under Seattle goaltender Philipp Grubauer. The Lightning trailed 3-1 after one period before Alex Barre-Boulet scored his third goal in four games 3:40 into the second.
Johansson – who was named the NHL second star of the week after posting back-to-back home shutouts last week against Carolina and San Jose, stopping all 55 shots he faced – made 39 saves on Monday, stopping 25 shots in a row before McCann’s game-winner.
“We went down pretty quick there and then we had a big hole to climb out of.” said Jeannot, who scored Tampa Bay’s first goal in the first period after Seattle went up 2-0. “I thought the guys did a good job in the rest of the game after the first there. We fought back and we got the point out of it. So we’re gonna learn from the bad stuff and take the good stuff and try to have a good road trip here.”
Tampa Bay finished its homestand earning eight of a possible 10 points, but its two overtime losses in the stretch left players frustrated. Now, they go on the road for a four-game road trip starting Thursday in Columbus that they hope brings better results than their first trip, which ended with two regulation losses and an overtime loss.
“We play with the desperation we had the second and third, I’ll take our chances,” Cooper said of the upcoming trip. “If we play a little lethargic like we were in the first period, it’s going to be tough for us.”
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