The Tampa Bay Lightning aim to improve their performance on special teams Monday night when they visit the Toronto Maple Leafs in a matchup of Stanley Cup contenders.
The Ottawa Senators had two power-play goals in five attempts and a short-handed goal in a 5-4 victory Saturday afternoon over the Lightning, who opened a three-game road trip with their first loss of the season.
“We put ourselves in tough spots, especially taking some of those penalties, and we couldn’t kill them off,” Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. “You can sway the five-on-five game our way, but the special-teams war was what that difference was.”
Tampa Bay was 0-for-3 on the power play.
The Maple Leafs also were 0-for-3 on the man advantage when their three-game winning streak ended Saturday night in a 4-1 home loss to the New York Rangers. Toronto is 2-for-16 on the power play this season.
Particularly disappointing was a third-period power play.
“The (guys) are going to be disappointed because we didn’t score,” Toronto coach Craig Berube said. “Now there were some good looks on the power play (Saturday) but the one in the third period, we didn’t execute very well on that one with our entries and we turned it over a couple times. When the game is on the line right there with an opportunity to tie it up, we’ve got to have more urgency.”
Toronto has done well killing off penalties, however, at 17-for-20 after the Rangers’ power play went 0-for-2. New York did score in the second period with a six-on-five advantage on a delayed penalty against Toronto.
It was a 2-1 game until the Rangers scored twice into the empty net in the final minute.
Toronto has won two of three on a four-game homestand that ends against the Lightning.
Toronto defenseman Chris Tanev left Saturday’s game late in the second period after blocking a shot. He returned for limited duty in the third period on just four shifts.
Berube said that Tanev could have played more had the game been tied or if the Maple Leafs had been ahead.
“He’s a tough guy,” Berube said. “Great defender and shot blocker, penalty killer, just a solid player all-around. Character, leadership — he brings a lot.”
Toronto goaltender Anthony Stolarz, who made 25 saves, appreciated Tanev’s overall effort.
“As a goalie, you can definitely appreciate that,” Stolarz said. “A lot of guys get a lot of fanfare for putting up points, but he takes a lot of pride in blocking shots. It’s definitely going to sting a little bit. I know I feel it with my goalie pads sometimes, so I can only imagine what that feels like.”
Tanev had two of Toronto’s blocked shots and has 15 for the season, five behind the league leaders entering Sunday.
Meanwhile, the Lightning aim to return to the type of play that helped them to a strong start, and that means better special teams play.
“It (came) down to special teams,” defenseman Ryan McDonagh said. “We’ve been pretty solid the first few games in that aspect, and (Saturday) it was just the opposite, for whatever reason. Poor execution.”
“I think the biggest thing is we just hurt ourselves with some penalties,” said Nicholas Paul, who scored once for Tampa Bay on Saturday. “It’s hard to get the momentum going when you’re in the box and you’re down.”
–Field Level Media