The Tampa Bay Lightning got off to such a good start Saturday night, but it didn’t bother to finish.
That’s the latest bone of contention for Lightning coach Jon Cooper, whose team won a 3-1 victory over the Carolina Hurricanes.
Power play goals by Brian Boyle and Jonathan Drouin, and a second-period goal by Alex Killorn put the Bolts ahead 3-0, but the team allowed Carolina to come back and threaten down the stretch.
“Give credit to Carolina,” Cooper said. “We got that third goal, and we took our foot off the pedal. We could have put it away. It’s a little discouraging.Vasy had to make a lot of saves.”
Of course, that was a good thing for the Bolts, too. Goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy has been sharp lately as the Bolts have taken nine of their last possible 12 points.
“I think there was a point after (Ben Bishop) went down that he might have been feeling the weight of the world on him, that he had to carry the team,” Cooper said “That’s not true. We have to carry the team and he has to bail us out when he can. He was putting a lot of pressure on himself.
“That’s why he’s the goaltender he is. He’d put pressure on himself after a shutout.”
Vasilevskiy had 26 saves in 27 shots.
The Lightning play Winnipeg Tuesday night.
