How Lightning’s road trip ended with a 3rd straight loss in St. Louis

By the time the final horn sounded Tuesday night, signaling the end of the Lightning's 3-2 loss to the Blues in St. Louis, it was clear their legs were tired and their morale was equally drained.

The Lightning spent the final 1:51 with their net emptied, hoping an extra attacker would boost them to a tying goal as the clock wound down. But they spent most of that time chasing the puck, never able to set up in the offensive zone.

A frustrating four-game road trip for the Lightning (7-6-0) filled with just-not-good-enough hockey ended with a third straight loss in a game that could have ended differently had some mistakes not ended up in their own net.

Without top center Brayden Point, who missed the game with an undisclosed injury after leaving Sunday's loss in Winnipeg early, Tampa Bay shuffled forward lines, and it was clear they lacked cohesion.

The Lightning have lost five of their last six games at Enterprise Center and 10 of their last 12 in St. Louis.

Another search for 60 minutes Like Sunday in Winnipeg, when the Lightning jumped out to a two-goal lead eight minutes into the game, they had a strong start and an early advantage on Nick Perbix's goal 2:39 into the second period.

But with the game tied at 1 in the final minutes of the period, the Lightning were caught focusing on the puck behind the net and left Alexey Toropchenko wide open in the left circle for the go-ahead goal. Then, less than nine minutes into the third, defensemen Perbix and Emil Lilleberg got crossed up retreating into their own zone, creating a 2-on-1 break that ended with Jordan Kyrou's goal, putting the Blues ahead 3-1.

The Lightning were tied after two periods in both Minnesota and Winnipeg and were down only a goal in St. Louis but lost all three games after being outscored 9-4 in the third period (four were empty-netters).

"We've just got to be better, that's the bottom line," Lightning captain Victor Hedman said. "We feel like we come out hard in each game, have a great first period ... then kind of get hemmed in in the second period. We've just got to be better for 60 minutes."

Opportunities taken and lost The Lightning allowed only six high-danger chances, keeping most of the Blues' shots to the outside. But St. Louis capitalized on the looks they got in close. On its first goal, Andrei Vasilevskiy couldn't glove Matthew Kessel's shot, leaving a juicy rebound that Oskar Sundqvist put past the Tampa Bay goaltender.

Both Lightning goals came from defensemen. In addition to Perbix, Victor Hedman's goal from the top of the left circle made it a one-goal game with 8:17 left.

But the Lightning seemed to pass up quality looks, deferring to make the extra pass, especially in a second period that saw them outshot 12-6 and allowed the Blues to tilt the ice. Against teams like Minnesota, Winnipeg and St. Louis, which clamp down defensively to hold leads, Tampa Bay's overpassing early hurt it.

"We still had some great chances (in the first period) where we could have shot the puck," Hedman said. "It's easy to look back now. We've got a lot of talent in our group. We can make some unreal plays, but we probably left a few shots out there. But that's hockey, too. It's easy to nitpick."

Next up The Lightning return home Thursday to play the Flyers. Vasilevskiy has a career 14-4-0 record, .929 save percentage and 2.26 goals-against average against Philadelphia. He has four career shutouts against the Flyers, his second-most against any team (Dallas, 6). He was 2-1-0 with a .919 save percentage and 2.40 goals-against average in three starts against Philadelphia last season. The game will be the Lightning's only one for a week, as they resume play Nov. 14 at home against the Jets.

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