By The Tampa Bay Lightning find themselves in an all too familiar position.
After finishing the regular season with the third-best record in the NHL, the Lightning are once again close to being eliminated in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the fourth consecutive season.
How does this continue year after year?
Let’s take a look at what has caused this year’s spring swoon so far for the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Outside of Brandon Hagel, who has come to play every night and play with a sense of urgency that is needed to win playoff hockey games?
Where is Nikita Kucherov? The best player on the Lightning during the regular season, but disappears quicker than fried chicken off the Golden Corral buffet in the playoffs.
Oh, sure, he will notch the occasional assist, and he has even found the back of the net one time so far in five playoff games.
Where is the playmaking, goal-scoring Kucherov that we saw during the regular season? That version of Kucherov has all but disappeared.
Braydon Point’s playoff production has mirrored his regular season. Disappointing.
With Nick Paul out with an illness for game five, the Lightning had no one who could consistently win face-offs.
Tampa has struggled with faceoffs in the last two games. In game four, despite a 3-2 win in Montreal, the Lightning won just 35 percent of the faceoffs.
In game five, Tampa lost 3-2; the Lightning won just 34 percent of their faceoffs.
Braydon Point talked about the poor performance in the faceoff circle after Wednesday Night’s loss.
“Tonight was a rough night in the circle. “Possession’s huge. As you see in this series, there’s not a lot of room out there, so starting with the puck is massive.
One of the keys to the Lightning coming back to win this series will be doing a much better job in the faceoff circle.
The Canadiens are the youngest team in the NHL playoffs, and have taken Tampa to school the entire series, and are on the verge of winning their first playoff series since the 2021 season.
Momentum has been on the side of the Montreal Canadiens this whole series. The moment has not been too big for this young Montreal team, and when the Lightning score, Montreal has tallied with a goal of its own minutes later.
The Canadiens have also scored the first goal in four of the five games, forcing the Lightning to play from behind.
Do the Lightning think that they can flip the switch into playoff mode whenever they want?
A sense of urgency is lacking with this team right now. Trailing by one in the pivotal game five, the Lightning managed just four shots on goal in the first 16 minutes of the third period.
Looking at the box score, you would think Tampa dominated, outshooting Montreal 40-24. But most of those shots were desperate shot attempts in the waning minutes of the game.
This series has come down to execution. The Lightning have shown flashes of their experience, but Montreal has been the better team in finishing chances, capitalizing on mistakes, and closing out tight games.
Heading into Game 6 in Montreal, the pressure is squarely on the Lightning. They’ve been in nearly every game, but “nearly” doesn’t win playoff series.
The Lightning are trailing in the series 3-2.
In their playoff history, the Lightning have come back to win 4 playoff series after being down 3-2.
In 2004, the Lightning were down to Calgary 3-2 and came back to win their first Stanley Cup.
In 2011, in the first round of the playoffs, the Bolts were down 3-2 before coming back to beat Pittsburgh.
In 2015, the Lightning trailed Detroit before coming back to win the series, and in 2022, the Lightning came back to beat Toronto after trailing 3-2.
The Canadiens are one win away from a stunning first-round upset.
For the Lightning, they are on the verge of losing their fourth consecutive first-round matchup, and it will take everyone’s best effort to turn this series around and put the series in the win column for the Tampa Bay Lightning.
