Tampa Bay Lightning coach Jon Cooper said his team has lacked consistency heading into Sunday’s game with the Pacific Division-leading Vegas Golden Knights in Las Vegas.
The Lightning (40-24-5, 85 points) reside two points behind the Florida Panthers and Toronto Maple Leafs in the battle for first place in the Atlantic Division.
Tampa Bay opened a three-game road trip with a physical and hard-fought 3-2 shootout victory over the Dallas Stars on Thursday. But the Lightning failed to take advantage of losses by the Panthers and Maple Leafs on Saturday with a 6-4 setback to the Utah Hockey Club.
The Lightning entered the game on a three-game winning streak that followed a three-game skid.
“We’re like a yo-yo right now,” Cooper said. “Good game, tough game. Good game, tough one.”
Saturday’s loss at Utah would qualify as the latter.
Tampa Bay battled back from 2-0 and 3-2 deficits to tie the game, only to surrender go-ahead goals just 36 and 30 seconds later. Nick Schmaltz scored what proved to be the game-winning goal early in the third period when he buried his own rebound.
Starting goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy, who had started three straight games and six of the last seven, was given the day off. Brandon Halverson made his first NHL start and stopped 19 of 24 shots.
“To be honest, that game was not on him at all,” Cooper said. “He gave us everything he had. The tough part is that we didn’t play near well enough in front of him. You’re playing a hungry team trying to battle for a playoff spot, and if you’re not going to match that intensity, you have no shot. And we definitely didn’t match their intensity.”
Next up is Vegas (41-20-8, 90 points), which has won seven of its last eight home games and is a sparkling 26-7-3 at T-Mobile Arena. The win total ties the Knights with the Dallas Stars for most home wins in the Western Conference.
Vegas comes in off a 6-3 victory over the visiting Detroit Red Wings on Saturday night. Tomas Hertl record his eighth career hat trick and second in the last seven games.
It marked the third straight home game that a Vegas player had a hat trick. Pavel Dorofeyev also had one in Thursday’s 5-1 victory over the Boston Bruins.
Hertl, who also hit the 30-goal mark with his third goal, said he enjoyed this one much more than the one he registered in a 6-5 loss to the Los Angeles Kings on March 9.
“A cool moment when you see all the hats coming down (on the ice),” Hertl said. “Obviously, if you score a hat trick and you win, it’s way better than last time when we lost. I think it was a good effort and a good team win. All four lines were rolling, and we have to just keep doing it.”
Jack Eichel sealed the win with an empty-net goal for his 600th career point.
“It’s a cool milestone,” said Eichel, who has career highs in points (86) and assists (64) this season. “I’ve played with some amazing players. You’ve got to look around at the people in this room and the people I’ve played with previously. I’ve been the benefactor of some good hockey players. Just trying to get better every day.”
–Field Level Media
