The Tampa Bay Lightning closed 2024 by splitting an Eastern Conference doubleheader at AMALIE Arena this weekend.
The Lightning beat the New York Rangers 6-2 with some special teams help on Saturday before falling to the Montreal Canadiens 5-2 on Sunday.
The Lightning are 20-12-2 on the year.
Tampa Bay has won seven of its past 10 games. Tampa Bay opens 2025 with a three-game road trip to California, one that begins against the San Jose Sharks at 10:30 p.m. ET on Thursday.
Cooper said the Lightning turned the puck over too often at 5v5 across the past two games.
“I’m gonna chalk it up to kind of a lousy 48 hours, but we ended up getting two points out of it. So we will take that, but let’s hope we’ve kind of learned. Now we head back out west again and sometimes you have to go through a rough game like we did tonight to understand, okay, our stubbornness is not paying off here,” Cooper said Sunday. “Get back to what works for us.”
Special teams dominant in Saturday win
For the first time in franchise history, the Tampa Bay Lightning scored multiple power-play goals and multiple shorthanded goals in the same game to overpower the New York Rangers 6-2 on Saturday.
Nikita Kucherov and Jake Guentzel had power-play goals for Tampa Bay, while Ryan McDonagh and Anthony Cirelli had shorthanded scores.
"We created a lot of our opportunities, put us in situations that we did score. Special teams did its thing, and sometimes in an 82-game season that's all you need,” Cooper said Saturday night. “Not a recipe for moving forward, but I like the fact that we have two more points than we did a couple hours ago."
Kucherov’s power-play goal opened the scoring 2:27 into the game, but the Rangers tied the score on an Artemi Panarin shot from the high slot midway through the first period.
McDonagh scored on a shorthanded rush with 1:49 remaining in the first period to give the Lightning a 2-1 lead through 20 minutes despite being outshot 17-6. The goal was McDonagh’s first of the season and came in his 300th game with the Lightning.
"It's kind of a back-breaker,” McDonagh said of the shorthanded goals. “Anybody that's been on a PP and you give up one, it's a tough feeling. After we got the second one there, we kind of carried the momentum because they had us on our heels there for the start of the game."
Tampa Bay led 5-1 by the midway point of Saturday’s game. Brayden Point had an even-strength goal 3:35 into the second period, and Cirelli finished another shorthanded 2-on-1 for the Bolts after receiving a pass from Brandon Hagel to make it 4-1.
A power-play look near the New York net deflected off Guentzel’s skate and into the net 8:08 into the second period for the 5-1 lead.
“A lot of our chances were in the slot or good looks, so I think it was just one of those nights where we were shooting and it was going in early for us,” Point said.
Point had a goal and two assists for the Lightning, which also saw a three-point night from Kucherov (1-2—3). Cirelli became the fourth Lightning player to have multiple shorthanded points in one game (1-1—2), and Guentzel also had two points (1-1—2).
Captain Victor Hedman played in his 1,083rd career game with the Lightning, becoming the franchise’s all-time leader in games played. He played a game-high 25:02 on Saturday.
New York scored a shorthanded goal in the third period to cut the home team’s lead to 5-2, but Nick Paul’s ninth goal of the season regained the Lightning four-goal lead with 5:58 to play.
Lightning goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy made a season-high 42 saves for Tampa Bay on a night the visitors outshot the Lightning 44 to 25. McDonagh gave his goalie credit for his performance.
"They were hemming us in. We didn't have a lot of zone time and fortunately we capitalized on some rush chances, and the PP (power play) had a couple too, so it was kind of a special teams scoring affair for us,” the defenseman said. “Like I said, probably not the recipe we want to rely on and stick to, but in the end we always are happy with two points.”
Ben’s Three Stars:
- Andrei Vasilevskiy, TBL (42 saves, W)
- Nikita Kucherov, TBL (1 goal, 2 assists)
- Brayden Point, TBL (1 goal, 2 assists)
Turnovers the difference in Sunday loss
Multiple key cogs of the Lightning dressing room said turnovers and overcomplicating plays led to the final result in Sunday’s 5-2 loss to the Montreal Canadiens.
“We gave them a whole bunch more than we probably should have. I was commending Montreal on their will and want to just play a steady, consistent game. And we didn't do that tonight, and the right team was rewarded,” Cooper said.
The visiting Canadiens scored the lone goal of the first period when Alex Newhook was left alone in front of the Tampa Bay net and buried a one-timer 12:07 into the game.
Hagel tied the game 37 seconds into the second period, finding a loose puck near the top of the offensive zone and dancing his way to the front of the net. His shot beat Montreal goalie Sam Montembeault on the glove side.
A deflected goal by Christian Dvorak as well as a 2-on-1 goal from Jake Evans gave the visitors a 3-1 lead, one that would keep them ahead for good.
Kucherov’s 17th goal of the year with 1:06 left in the second made it 3-2, but another rush goal for Montreal—this time from forward Joel Armia—restored the visitors’ two-goal lead in period three. An empty-net wraparound by Brendan Gallagher capped the scoring.
“We just need to be better and I think the group in here knows that. We know how to win games, and we’ve been doing it for a while now,” Hagel said. “It’s just kind of, okay, we split here and now we’ve got to go on the road and play some pretty good hockey teams.”
Hagel and captain Victor Hedman each mentioned turnovers after the two-game split, adding the team will use its three-day break from games to clean up that issue ahead of their Western Conference trip this week.
Both players referenced allowing too many shots during the homestand.
Tampa Bay goalie Jonas Johansson stopped 32 of 36 shots on Sunday after Vasilevskiy’s 42 saves on Saturday, and the players in front of the goalies hope to lessen that number moving forward.
“At the end of the day we have such a great group in here and I know we’re gonna rebound,” Hedman said. “Coming out of the break and the back to back, just gotta take the two points and move on.”
Ben’s Three Stars:
- Joel Armia, MTL (1 goal, 1 assist)
- Alexandre Carrier, MTL (2 assists)
- Sam Montembeault, MTL (21 saves, W)
