Sunday, October 19, 2008

Bolts fall short again


By JC De La Torre

The Tampa Bay Lightning still were unabe to find victory tonight, suffering a shootout loss to the Minnesota Wild, 1-0. It was easily the best performance of the season for the Lightning, as they outshot the undefeated Wild by the count of 32-21 and controlled play. Tampa Bay still finds themselves in the penalty box too often, having to kill off six powerplays tonight. Its difficult to establish an offense when you are sitting in the sin bin.

After three scoreless periods and a scoreless overtime, the game went to a shoot out. The Lightning's Jussi Jokinen missed on a backhand. Minnesota's Mikko Koivu missed wide on his shot. Vincent Lecavalier's shot hit the post. Minnesota's Antti Miettinnen scored on a backhander against Mike Smith, the first shootout goal Smith has allowed in his young NHL career. Steven Stamkos looked to keep the Lightning in it but missed on his backhand and that was the game.

Wild win 1-0 and the Bolts waste a superb performance from goalie Mike Smith and the Tampa Bay defense.

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