What Went Wrong: Power Outage

Amazing how the Tampa Bay Lightning have gone from the great superpower to a team who finds all sorts of ways to lose, and to anyone. Let's get one thing straight: the Bolts had quite the year. They were a Wild Card last year, but they improved this year. They finished a close second in the Atlantic Division behind the Sabres, and they received home ice in their series against the Montréal Canadiens. This was a very close series. Seven games. Back and forth. Four OT games. Every game decided by one goal.

The Bolts did lose in Game Seven, and yeah, based on how tight the series was, there's no shame in falling one win short in a close series. I would gladly say that the Lightning have actually nothing to be ashamed of.

Except they do have quite a bit to be ashamed of.

Let's talk about the game first. The Lightning outshot the Habs, 29-9. Yeah. The Habs had nine shots. Nine. Neuf. Even worse, the Habs had no shots at all in the second period, and went 27 minutes of ice time without a SOG. Yet despite that, and only two of Montréal's shots going in, the Bolts couldn't do a thing against them. What a total waste.

With that, the Lightning have now lost in the first round for the fourth straight year, and that is now five straight playoff losses dating back to the 2022 Final. After losing to the Avs, they lost to a Leafs team who hadn't won a series in 19 years, they lost twice to their very inferior little brother from Sunrise, and now, they lost to a Habs team who decided to play the "Luigi wins by doing nothing" card in Game Seven. Even worse: not only have the Bolts lost five straight series, four of their five eliminations were on their own home ice.

At least Nikita Kucherov scored in this series! Only once, though. So that's three goals in his last 29 playoff games, and he continues to suck in Game Sevens. I know what I'm about to say covers another sport, but even Joel Embiid finally exorcised his Game Seven demons. Three goals in 29 playoff games, yet everyone still continues to pretend that Mitch Marner doesn't have the clutch gene. Kucherov finished with six points, sitting behind only Brandon Hagel and Jake Guentzel, who each had eight points. Out of Hagel's eight points, six of them went in the net! Almost a goal per game for Hagel, but that's wasted due to the lack of depth and due to Kucherov not doing his part.

As for Andrei Vasilevskiy, he gave up 16 goals in the seven games, which isn't a lot. Thanks to all that OT played, his GAA looks good. A 2.18 GAA, and he had that shutout out in the OT Game Six. The save percentage isn't good (.897), but still, this was a good performance in net, and it was very wasted.

So once again, it's back to the drawing board for the Bolts, and again, their Cup window is shut. They are a bit of a far cry from that team who made it to three straight Finals. Speaking of, with this loss, the state of Florida's stranglehold is over. For the first time in this decade, the Sunshine State will not be represented in the Stanley Cup Final. The Lightning definitely have to figure out what they have to do to get back to something resembling that old form they had during those years, and they have to do it fast, because a lot of East teams are on the rise right now.