At first glance, the Lighting stopped the shot. Officials ruled that Patrick Marleau crashed into goaltender Ben Bishop.
But wait. After a review, officials ruled that the puck crossed the line. But still, no goal. There was still the matter of the contract.
But wait. After a second review, officials ruled that it was teammate Braydon Point, not Marleau, who skated into Bishop. And the goal finally counted.
The Lightning never quite seemed to recover from the play, which left them playing from behind for the 10th time in 15 games. The Sharks scored again three minutes later, then coasted to 3-1 victory over the Lightning. Tommy Wingels and Marc-Edoird Vlasic scored for the Sharks.
Lightning coach Jon Cooper, however, said the goal shouldn’t have deflated the Bolts.
“How early in the game was that,” Cooper said.
Rather, Cooper was down over the lethargy of the team.
“Did we have chances to score?” Cooper said. “We probably had more chances than they did. But they played fast, and we navigated our way. We weren’t hungry enough to shoot pucks.”
Anton Stralman scored a goal in the third period for the Lightning.
The Lightning now plays on the road in 12 of its next 17 games, including a game Monday night against the Islanders.
