The Tampa Bay Lightning kicked off their Atlantic Division play on Saturday, taking on the Ottawa Senators. The Senators jumped out to an early lead in the 1st period, and would eventually go on to defeat the Lightning 5-4. Here are the three takeaways that led to Tampa Bay’s first loss of the season.
Falling Behind Early
Starting out slow has been an issue for the Lightning in recent years, most times digging themselves a hole in the first period. It came as no surprise that the Lightning fell behind early on Saturday. Ottawa has given Tampa Bay plenty of trouble in their last six meetings. Ottawa came into today’s contest with a goal differential of +12 in their last six games against the Lightning. The Bolts would give up two goals to start the game and would only muster enough to tie the game up twice before suffering their first loss of the season.
Inefficiency On the Powerplay Going
Tampa Bay has struggled mightily on the odd man advantage to start the season, and their struggles continued in Saturday’s meeting with Ottawa. The Lightning went through their first three games with a powerplay percentage of 20%. That percentage took another nosedive in their fourth game of the season, where they failed to score in their three chances. Lightning Coach Jon Cooper discussed powerplay issues after the game by saying: “We lost the special teams war today. That was the difference in the game. Usually, we can win that war, but the league is too good. They got their breaks, and they made the best of them.”