Lightning finish winless at Prospect Showcase

The 2022 Prospect Showcase came to a close on Monday afternoon with the Tampa Bay Lightning falling to the Carolina Hurricanes, 5-1, to finish the event with an 0-3 record after losses to the Nashville Predators and Florida Panthers.

Syracuse Crunch head coach Benoit Groulx served as the head coach for Tampa Bay's prospects this week and was disappointed in the compete level over the three games. Groulx felt that the pace of the games surprised some of the team, but he's confident the group can learn from the experience.
"I don't think it was good enough, not near where they have to be," said Groulx. "I think it's a disappointing result. Last year, we won the three games. This year, we lost the three of them, but I didn't think we were close.
"It was new for many of them, but it goes for every team. It's not like we're different. They have young players as well on the other teams. They were just better than us this week. I think our guys can learn from it and get ready for main camp."

The Canes jumped on the Bolts early with the game-opening goal just 2:17 into the first period when Blake Murray took a pass up the left boards and sped into the zone before firing a quick wrist shot through the five hole of Hugo Alnefelt.
Tampa Bay responded with a strong shift but were whistled for goaltender interference when Jack Finley was crashing the net hard and made contact with Carolina's Jakub Vondras. Quickly, the Lightning fell into a 2-0 hole when Jamieson Rees redirected a shot on the back door past Alnefelt to double the Hurricanes lead with 12:50 left in the opening period.
The Bolts were whistled for three penalties in the first period, making it difficult to find any rhythm or flow at five-on-five in the first 20 minutes. Late in the opening frame, Tyson Feist made a great play to get a stick on a puck that may have put Carolina up 3-0 and deflect it over the net with the Lightning shorthanded.
"I was impressed with Tyson Feist," Groulx said. "The guy signed with us last year and he got here [and was] not intimidated. He showed a lot of compete, yesterday especially. I thought he did well."
In the final moments of the first period, the line of Gabriel Fortier, Felix Robert and Cole Koepke produced a strong shift with some tenacious forechecking below the goal line. With Fortier and Robert wreaking havoc down low, Fortier was able to force a turnover and allowed Robert to feed Koepke in front, who fired a hard one-timer on goal that was stopped by Vondras to keep the score at 2-0 after 20 minutes.
"I think Robby (Robert) was pretty good here during the three games," said Groulx. "I didn't know him well. I thought he made some plays. He scored a goal.
"I don't think we had a lot of finishing touch here this week, but overall, I thought Robby was good."
Entering the second period, Fortier, Robert and Koepke picked up right where they left off with another quality shift in the Carolina zone. Fortier and Robert were strong on the forecheck again and did a good job cycling the puck before the Hurricanes were able to clear.
After the Canes advanced the puck into the Tampa Bay end, Justin Robidas found a soft spot in the low slot and put a one-timer past Alnefelt with 18:36 left in the period to give Carolina a 3-0 lead. The Hurricanes went on to add a fourth goal off the stick of Alexander Pashin with 11:28 remaining before the second period came to a close.
The Lightning got on the board near the midway point of the third period when Maxim Cajkovic entered the offensive zone and rifled a hard wrist shot over the blocker of Vondras to make it a 4-1 game. It was the first goal of the tournament for Cajkovic, whose shot was placed perfectly into the top corner.
The Hurricanes would go on to add a fifth goal before the horn sounded and brought the Showcase to a close.

"We're competitive, every single one of us in there," said defenseman Jack Thompson. "We want to win, so when we don't do that, obviously it's disappointing.
"We learned a lot throughout these three games. You just take what happened, put it behind us, learn from it and be better."
The Tampa Bay prospects will travel back to Tampa and have a day off tomorrow before the start of Training Camp on Wednesday.
"Get back to Tampa and rest up tomorrow," said Koepke, who will be pushing for a roster spot with the Bolts throughout camp. "Now I just want to go out there and prove that I can help Tampa Bay. Right from the start, I want to try to get one of those roster spots right away.
"I'll help any way I can and play whatever role I have to. Just go out there and, more importantly, play my game and show what improvements I've made over the summer and show why I believe I can compete at that level."
Training camp will open with medicals, testing and media day on Wednesday before on-ice practices begin at the TGH Ice Plex on Thursday.
"It's a process and they've got to understand that here is one thing, but next week is going to be even better," said Groulx. "In three weeks, it's going to be even better. In three months, it's going to be even better. It's for them to adjust.
"You're playing at this level and the pace of the game and the compete of the game. You've got to fight for your space on the ice. I think, for many of them, it was different and it's something that I believe they've got to learn quickly."
In total, the Lightning have 56 players on the training camp roster. All players from the Prospect Showcase are on the roster that includes 30 forwards, 20 defensemen and six goaltenders. Tampa Bay's first preseason game will take place back in Raleigh on Tuesday, September 27.