Bolts Close Out Injury-Filled Road Trip with 7-2 Loss to Minnesota Wild

Quick quiz, Lightning fans.

The Tampa Bay Lightning lost to the Minnesota Wild, 7-2, Saturday night at the Xcel Energy Center in Saint Paul BECAUSE…

A. The Bolts played without five injured starters — Victor Hedman, Ryan Callahan, Alex Killorn, J. T. Brown, and Brett Connolly.

B. Tampa Bay fielded a line-up that included one forward making his first NHL start (Jonathan Marchessault), another forward playing his 4th NHL game (Jonathan Drouin), a third forward playing in his 2nd game with the Lightning (Mike Blunden), and a forward playing in only his 2nd game this season (Cedric Paquette), so mistakes were inevitable.

C. The Lightning squad was closing out a grueling 10-day five-game road swing that included back-to-back games twice in a week.

D. This was the second game of the second back-to-back series.

E. The Bolts played big hunks of the game down two players, Marchessault and Namestnikov, who were injured on hits against the boards that they themselves initiated.

F. Tampa Bay faced a Minnesota team that had not lost at home, had not given up a goal at home, and had several snipers, including captain Mikko Koivu, Lightning nemesis Zach Parise, and Lightning-killer Thomas Vanek, who were long overdue to deliver big on offense.

G. ALL OF THE ABOVE.

And, of course, the correct answer is G, ALL OF THE ABOVE, as the Lightning turned a perfect storm of injuries, inexperience, mistakes, bad luck, and a Minnesota team playing its best game of the season into a startling five-goal defeat.

The Wild scored early and often, with four goals in the first period, and they never let up. Marco Scandella gave Minnesota a 1-0 lead at 7:37 of the first and 39 seconds later Koivu made it 2-0 on a perfect feed from Vanek. The Lightning did not manage a shot on goal against the stout Wild defense until 11:04, when defenseman Anton Stralman, alone in front of the net, picked up a rebound from a booming Eric Brewer shot, dipped left, and scored the first Tampa Bay goal, making the score a manageable 2-1.

Less than two minutes later Eric Haula scored to give the Wild a 3-1 lead. Minnesota went up 4-1 when Jason Zucker executed a spinarama move off the right boards to put his tough angle shot past Lightning goalkeeper Evgeni Nabokov, who was immediately replaced by Ben Bishop after giving up four goals on only eight shots. The Bolts managed only four shots in the period. The rout was on.

Zach Parise and Jared Spurgeon scored in the second period off Bishop to extend the Minnesota lead to 6-1. Late in the period Stralman buzzed another hard shot on goal that Nikita Kucherov redirected past Wild keeper Darcy Kuemper to make it 6-2. Those were the first two goals scored off Kuemper at home this season.

The third period opened with the Lightning finishing up one of the evening’s rare power plays, which turned into a 5-on-3 opportunity when Matt Cooke high-sticked Tyler Johnson right after the opening face-off. The Bolts got off zero shots during the 5-on-3 and subsequent 5-on-4. Midway through the period, with the Lightning again on the power play, Scandella launched Zucker on a short-handed breakaway. Zucker’s second goal of the night closed out the scoring and the road trip. Wild won, 7-2.

More from Bolts by the Bay

• Tampa Bay Lightning: Maxim Groshev Stands Out at Rookie Showcase
• Tampa Bay Lightning Atlantic Division Preview: Boston Bruins
• Do the Tampa Bay Lightning provide Tyler Motte with career stability?
• Mikhail Sergachev hints a renewed vigor for the Tampa Bay Lightning
• Four training camp battles to watch with the Tampa Bay Lightning

The Lightning finished with 19 shots, the team’s lowest shot total of the season. Minnesota scored its seven goals on just 22 shots.

With the exception of Stralman, who finished +1, every other Lightning skater finished on the wrong side of the plus/minus scale. Andrej Sustr, at -4, and Eric Brewer, at -3 despite some early a. blocks and take-aways, were on the ice for too many Wild scores. Blunden, Radko Gudas, Vlad Namestnikov, and Stralman all out-hit any of the Wild, but for naught.

Rookie phenom Jonathan “Cool Hand” Drouin, who tallied three points in his first three NHL games, had a forgettable fourth game with no shots, no take-aways, one give-away, and a -2 in 19:10 of ice time. Captain Steven Stamkos had an equally frustrating showing in his 23:08 on the ice.

The Lightning dropped to 3-2 on this first road trip of the season and to 5-3-1 overall; Tampa Bay’s 11 points is still good enough for second place in the Atlantic Division. The Bolts have a few days to rest and recuperate before beginning a four-game home stand Tuesday night against the Arizona Coyotes at the Amalie Arena. Alex Killorn and J. T. Brown are expected to be healthy by then, which will shore up the weakened Lightning offense. Brett Connolly and Ryan Callahan may be ready by the end of the home quartet, while Victor Hedman still has around a month to go.

Quick follow-up quiz.

True or False…

The Bolts are looking forward to some home cooking.

As a once-famous politician said while looking across her home ice toward Russia, “You betcha.”