Some losses, a team slinks away. Some losses, it talks of how much better it will do. Some losses, it vows to do away with its mistakes.
This one.
First, the Lightning has to figure out what happened.
This time, a 3-2 loss in their playoff opener left the Lightning players muttering to themselves, trying to figure out how such an advantage on one of the game’s most meaningful statistics — shots — didn’t turn things in their direction.
The Lightning ran up a staggering 46-14 shot advantage, but it didn’t stand up. It’s like winning a beauty contest when the task is flying airplanes.
This time, it left the Lightning down 1-0 in their playoff series against the Detroit Red Wings.
The Lightning won all the available style points, but they lost by 3-2 to to the Red Wings.
Just like that, the Red Wings stole home ice advantage, and they stole the early momentum in the best-of-seven series, and they stole that little part that wonders if , like last year’s series to Montreal, this one could end up all wrong.
Forty-six to 14.
And they lost.
“We didn’t win the game,’’ said Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper. “That part sucks. Ultimately, it’s the business of winning. It’s not the business of moral victories. ‘You outshot them. Good for you.’
“Detroit is up 1-0, and they took a game we wanted. But if we can play the way we did, I’ll take our chances. If they play like that and they beat us, give credit to their goaltender.’’
For most of the night, Detroit’s Petr Mrazek was in a shooting gallery, and he was good enough to mute the Lightning. He stopped nine of 10 shots in the first period, all 17 in the second and one of 19 in the third.
It was enough to make the Lightning players mutter to themselves about how well they had played in defeat. But that can be a two-sided coin. Yes, the Lightning had a 32-shot advantage.
On the other hand, don’t you also have to wonder if the Lightning gave it their best shot Thursday but came up empty? Don’t you have to wonder if this game will come back to haunt them?
“There’s not much you can do,’’ said Lightning captain Steve Stamkos. “If we sat here and had 15 shots on goal, you could say we could have done more. But 46 shots on goal? That’s pretty impressive. We just have to find a way to get a couple more past this guy.’’
Coming in, that wouldn’t have figured to have been that difficult. The Lightning was 3-1 against Detroit this year, including a 2-0 record in Tampa. The Lightning led the league in scoring.
But not Thursday night. Then, they scored only two goals, one each by their 12th-leading scorer (Brian Boyle) and their 20th-leading score (Nikita Nesterov). As for those shots, Stamkos had eight, which you would figure. But low-scoring defenseman Braydon Coburn had seven shots, and defenseman Anton Stralman had five. Tyler Johnson only had two shots. Nikita Kucherov only had two. Ryan Callahan only had two.
Know how a team will suggest its best players have to be its best players in the playoffs. In Game One, the Lightning’s weren’t.
Also, the Bolts were 0-7 on the power play (0-12 on shots), and Ben Bishop gave up a soft goal on the third one of the night.
If there was a key part of this series, it was supposed to be Bishop over Mrazek. It didn’t turn out that way. Mrazek stopped 44 shots.
Add all that together, and it’s easy to figure out why Tampa Bay was beaten. And why the pressure shifts squarely to the Lightning, which needs to win Saturday afternoon to draw even.
Asked what needs to change, Stamkos shrugged. “Nothing,’’ he said. “You put up close to 50 shots in a playoff game, you’re doing something right. If we play similar to that for our next game, we should be okay.’’
Said Cooper: “We couldn’t draw the game up any better than the way played it. It’s tough. It’s how many you score. It’s how many you keep out. I feel fairly certain if we give that effort and play the way we did, eventually the tide will turn.’’
But what if it doesn’t? Cooper is still seeking his first career playoff win. The team hasn’t won a playoff game for almost four years, since Game Six of the Eastern Conference title game.
It’s early in the series, but you wonder where the heads of the teams are. Does Detroit feel lucky to escape after being outshot by 32? Does Tampa Bay feel it won everywhere but on the scoreboard? Can either team turn the play around?
Hey, it’s the playoffs. Losing happens.
If you don’t believe it, remember this: Against Calgary in the Stanley Cup finals, the Lightning lost the first game.
Then, it turned itself around.
This time? We’ll see.
