Conor Sheary may have summed it up best following the Lightning’s 4-2 to loss at Winnipeg on Tuesday evening when he alluded to his team’s struggle to piece together three solid periods, especially away from the friendly confines of Amalie Arena.
“We have been struggling on the road a little bit and have to find a way to keep our game simple for the whole game,” he said, after returning from a one-game absence due to hand injury sustained Saturday night against the Rangers. “We are doing it in spurts and not for 60 minutes. That’s hurting us right now.”
While a 7-11-2 record on the road is far from pretty, another thing hurting the Bolts is being shorthanded defensively. Erik Cernak and Haydn Fleury exited in the second period of Sunday night’s game against Montreal. The former, drilled by Josh Anderson behind the Habs’ net, is out on a game-to-game basis with an upper body injury.
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The latter is on long-term injury reserve – could be several weeks — after blocking a shot with his hand. The injuries are on top of Mikhail Sergachev having missed his sixth game Tuesday night after taking a puck in the foot against St. Louis two weeks ago.
Defenseman Phillipe Myers was summoned from Syracuse (AHL) on Monday and the 26-year-old was in the lineup against the Jets, a lineup that featured five blueliners and 13 forwards. The effort was one in which the Lightning felt was deserving of at least a point. Alas, Winnipeg goalie Connor Hellebuyck (32 saves) and 23 blocked shots by his teammates resulted in an outcome in which the Jets held their opponent to three goals or less for an eye-opening 26th straight game.
“I thought we played a pretty darn good road game,” said coach Jon Cooper. “We were doing what we wanted to do.”
The Lightning need to continue to do what they want to do and hope it results in something that is added to the almighty points column when they play in Minnesota on Thursday evening. The Bolts have lost three of four and are one point outside the wild-card picture while surrounded by teams with games in hand.
“For us, we trust in what we have and keep believing,” said Victor Hedman. “That’s the bottom line.”
Following the match with the Wild and pal Pat Maroon, the Bolts travel to Boston for a Saturday evening date with the Bruins, who pace the Eastern Conference with 52 points.
The Lightning return home Tuesday when they entertain the Kings to open a four-game homestand that stretches over 10 days.
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