There haven’t been many games over the course of the 2024-25 season in which the Tampa Bay Lightning have had issues generating sustained offense.
On Thursday night in San Jose, though, a shaky start with few shots on net culminated in a 2-1 loss to the San Jose Sharks at SAP Center. Multiple members of the Lightning said the loss came down to lacking execution.
The Lightning are now 20-13-2 this season and next play the Los Angeles Kings on Saturday.
The Lightning trailed 2-0 just past the midway point of the second period and were limited to 14 shots on goal through 40 minutes of hockey. An Anthony Cirelli goal in the closing moments of the second period slashed into the deficit for the Lightning, but neither team scored in the third period for a 2-1 final score.
"I’ve watched this team make plays all year, tonight we couldn’t make them for whatever reason,” Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. "It wasn’t just one guy, it was everybody. When you’re not executing at this level it’s tough to make plays, and we didn’t make enough tonight clearly.”
Tyler Toffoli’s 15th goal of the season opened the scoring in the first period. The San Jose forward accepted a pass near the right point before deking through the Lightning defense and scoring on a toe-drag shot just inside the right face-off circle 13:52 into the game.
San Jose defenseman Mario Ferraro extended the home team’s lead 12:55 into the second period.
The puck hit a broken stick in the Lightning offensive zone to kickstart a San Jose rush, and a Ferraro passing attempt was blocked right back to the defender, whose shot found the top right corner of the net for a 2-0 advantage.
Tampa Bay showed a pushback late, as Anthony Cirelli scored his 15th goal of the season with 2:16 left in the middle frame to make it 2-1. Cirelli got his stick on a point shot by defenseman Erik Cernak, and the redirect found the top shelf of the San Jose net to halve the home team's advantage.
San Jose outshot the Lightning 12-6 in the second period and held a 21-14 advantage through two periods. Tampa Bay made their comeback effort visible in the third period by generating 11 shots to San Jose’s four, but no goals could be found.
Forward Nick Paul said the Lightning didn’t execute well enough.
“You can play good, but if you don’t execute then all that hard work’s for nothing. Crossing their blue line and everything, turning pucks over, going back the other way,” Paul said. "Third period we started to get some motion, some cycles, some pucks to the net and that’s when we started playing better. But if we’re just going to be one and done, we’ve gotta be better than that."
Sharks goalie Yaroslav Askarov stopped 24 of 25 shots to earn the win, while Lightning goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy made 23 saves. Vasilevskiy made numerous saves in the second period on San Jose skaters who found open ice in front of the Tampa Bay net.
Despite Tampa Bay’s efforts, particularly in the third period, pucks were bouncing off sticks and set plays were hard to establish early. The Lightning power play finished 0-for-2 in a game that saw defenseman Victor Hedman leave late in the third period after a puck hit him in the ear.
“Plays guys normally make, we couldn’t make them tonight for whatever reason,” Cooper said. "It got better in the third period, but when we did get the chance their goalie was there to make the save.”
Cernak and forward Brandon Hagel finished with the only assists on the night for Tampa Bay.
While Tampa Bay started getting pucks into the offensive zone and finding extended looks in the third period, Cernak said that needed to start earlier in the game.
“I feel like we didn’t really start well, the execution wasn’t really there,” Cernak said. "From the start of the game we know have to be there and kind of show more emotions, be ready to play since the first shift. Just overall I think we have to be better."
Benjamin’s Three Stars:
1. Yaroslav Askarov, SJS (24 saves, W)
2. Tyler Toffoli, SJS (Goal)
3. Andrei Vasilevskiy, TBL (23 saves)
