Here’s likely the extent of the Tampa Bay Lightning’s luck lately: they survived a brutal first period in which Anders Lindback largely bailed them out. That’s ... more or less it.
In a stunning sequence, two bad things happened to the Lightning.
First, they saw a would-be 2-1 goal negated by a highly questionable goalie interference call. Here’s video of that disallowed goal (PHT will add the league’s explanation when available):
Mere moments later, the Lightning saw star Steven Stamkos take what may or may not have been an accidental knee to the head and look awfully wobbly leaving the ice:
This is the second highly unlikely and potentially injurious spill of the season for Stamkos, just adding to the narrative of the Lightning’s bad luck.
Update: Maybe the Bolts dodged a bullet, though? Stamkos managed to return in the third period.
Oh yeah, and Ondrej Palat lost control of his stick in a tough break on this play, helping to open the door for P.K. Subban to set up Brendan Gallagher for this fantastic assist:
So, in little time, the following happened to Tampa Bay:
- A 2-1 lead went back to 1-1.
- They might have lost Stamkos to a head injury.
- Montreal made a beautiful play to leave Tampa Bay down 2-1.
Can the Lightning keep overcoming these obstacles? If they don’t clear the hurdle of being down 2-1 in the third period, they’ll fall behind 3-0 in the series.