NEW YORK — Throughout training camp, we often saw the Lightning work on special teams. Their penalty kill had several new pieces and needed restructuring.
But Tampa Bay’s power play has been together for years, especially the first unit consisting of its top stars. And if Tuesday’s 3-1 loss to the Rangers at Madison Square Garden showed anything, it’s that even an established unit can be a work in progress at the start of the season.
The Lightning did score on a 5-on-3, but Steven Stamkos’ one-timer in the second period was Tampa Bay’s only goal in nearly nine minutes of power-play time. It ended the night 1 for 6 with the man-advantage.
The Lightning came out strong, skating fast and dictating the pace of play. But the game tilted when Tampa Bay allowed a short-handed goal 3:25 into the second period to give New York a 1-0 lead.
“Our (power play) has been the same for a long time, so we should be comfortable no matter what,” Stamkos said. “So that’s on us. We don’t want to be giving up short-handed goals, and we’ll look to fix those things.”
The Lightning were caught on a line change, their top power-play unit trying to get off the ice 71 seconds into its shift after battling pressure in its own end. Andrei Vasilevskiy had just made a remarkable save to stop Chris Kreider’s one-timer from the slot on the rush. After a rebound attempt by Kreider slid across the crease, Tampa Bay failed to clear and New York cycled back into its own zone.
The Lightning tried to change, but the Rangers quickly pushed the puck forward, Alexis Lafreniere barely stayed onside and Mika Zibanejad had nothing but open ice ahead of him along the right wing. Vasilevskiy’s teammates were late to help, and Zibanejad roofed a shot in front of the goaltender’s poke-check attempt and over Mikhail Sergachev trying to protect the back post.
The Lightning had plenty of opportunities during a third period in which they were on the power play for six minutes and had their looks at Rangers goaltender Igor Shesterkin but managed just four shots on goal over that stretch. Tampa Bay struggled to establish offensive zone time and was sloppy with the puck.
On their first power play of the period, the Lightning were offsides entering the zone, and Vasilevskiy had to jump out of the crease to stop Vincent Trocheck on a shorthanded breakaway.
“I felt it was a little bit sloppy,” defenseman Victor Hedman said of the power play. “I felt like we had some good plays. Maybe we could have executed a little bit better. We hold ourselves to a high standard. We want to go out there and score every time, but we know that’s not going to be the case. But we can obviously be better than we were (Tuesday).”
Bettman on Cole investigation
In Las Vegas for the nationally televised opener between the Golden Knights and Kings, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman was asked what the league is doing to investigate the sexual abuse allegations against Lightning defenseman Ian Cole.
A woman posting under the pseudonym “Emily Smith” alleged last week on Twitter that Cole had a sexual relationship with her that began when she was a minor. She said Cole groomed her over a four-year stretch.
Cole denied the allegations in a statement Sunday.
The Lightning have suspended Cole with pay pending the results of the league’s investigation. Cole, who played for six other teams over 12 seasons, joined Tampa Bay in the offseason on a one-year deal to help restructure its blue line.
“We’re trying to get to the source of the tweet and we are investigating,” Bettman told The Los Angeles Times. “Obviously, the allegations on Twitter are disturbing, but I think we need to take the appropriate time to understand exactly what happened.”
Slap shots
The Lightning and AHL Syracuse Crunch jointly announced a five-year affiliation extension that will allow Tampa Bay’s top prospects to continue to develop in Syracuse through the 2026-27 season. ... The Lightning won just 36% of their faceoffs Tuesday, which played a major role in establishing possession time. New York had a 12-2 advantage in faceoff wins in the first period. Fourth-line center and penalty-killing forward Pierre-Edouard Bellemare was the only Lightning player with a faceoff win percentage above 50% (4 for 6). … Agricultural supply company Brandt is the new sponsor on the Lightning’s helmets.
