ST. LOUIS — They were the beneficiary of some fortunate bounces early, and the Lightning didn’t waste any time scoring Tuesday night against the Blues. Unfortunately, they flamed out after the initial flurry.
Tampa Bay lit up the scoreboard early at the Enterprise Center, but from the way the Lightning played past the first six minutes of the game, it seemed like they were chasing a three-goal deficit instead of holding one.
After taking a quick 3-0 lead in the first period, the Lightning surrendered three straight St. Louis goals and eventually fell 4-3 in a shootout. Ryan O’Reilly’s final goal was the difference, as Blues goaltender Jordan Binnington turned away Victor Hedman, Corey Perry and Ross Colton.
The Lightning were short-handed. Without captain Steven Stamkos, who returned to Tampa hours before puck drop for the expected birth of his second child, the Lightning were thin at forward. Already without Mathieu Joseph, out with an unspecified injury, Stamkos’ departure left the Lightning with just 11 forwards.
Still, their initial scoring aim was true, including two goals that came a franchise-record five seconds apart.
Rookie Taylor Raddysh thought he had his first NHL goal 2:02 into the game, but it was given to Anthony Cirelli, who poked the puck between Binnington’s legs after it fluttered wildly in front of the net.
Suddenly scalding scorer Perry then cleaned up a rebound along the far post to put the Lightning up 2-0 5:29 into the game. After going 17 games without a goal, the longest scoring drought to open a season in his 17-year career, Perry now has three goals in his last four games.
Defenseman Erik Cernak, who had missed eight games with a hand injury, then netted one of the strangest goals you’ll ever see. After Colton won the ensuing faceoff, Cernak flung the puck off the glass while attempting to clear it, but it took a wacky bounce toward the goal, off the outside of Binnington’s left skate and into the net.
After the Lightning’s initial surge, the Blues took control. The Lightning went through a stretch of 16:16 from the end of the first into the second without a shot on goal.
After stopping the first 13 shots he faced, Lightning backup goaltender Brian Elliott allowed a pair of goals in a 2:58 stretch in the second period.
O’Reilly put the Blues on the board, beating Elliott top shelf after Jordan Kyrou made a move to get a step on Pierre-Edouard Bellemare, and after drawing the defense to him, fed O’Reilly with a cross-slot pass.
The Blues’ second goal came when Oskar Sundqvist skated into the Lightning zone, made a drop pass to Logan Brown to his left and held up Cernak, preventing him from getting his stick free for a poke check, giving Brown a clear shot to beat Elliott blocker side again.
How much did the ice tilt? Lightning rookie Boris Katchouk nearly had his first NHL goal and had beaten Binnington with a diving wrap-around attempt, but the puck came to a complete stop on the goal line. Katchouk raised his arm, thinking he had scored, but with Binnington sprawled on the ice, Blues forward Robert Thomas flicked it off the line.
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Explore all your optionsA high-sticking penalty on Cernak late in the second gave the Blues a power play to open the third, and they took advantage, scoring the tying goal 1:11 into the period on Ivan Barbashev’s slap shot from the right hashes.
This story will be updated.
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Lightning’s fast start fades in shootout loss to Blues - Tampa Bay Times
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