By Gary Shelton, Times Sports Columnist
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
TAMPA
When the end finally came, when the Lightning had been defeated, when the Penguins had seized an NHL series by the neck, there was a moment that seemed to be owned by the numbness of it all.
The Lightning had lost. Finally and, perhaps, fatally.
It had lost after scuffling from yet another two-goal deficit, after getting off the canvas to give itself another chance.
It had lost when goaltender Dwayne Roloson, brilliant for most of the night, failed to stop a fairly ordinary-looking shot by James Neal that went past his glove and into the net.
After all of the shifts, after all of the sweat, after all of the coming back, it lost in one swift, stunning split second, and all that was left was to skate away from the pain. Vinny Lecavalier doubled over at the waist. Simon Gagne skated past the celebrating Penguins without looking their way.
For the Lightning, it was that dagger-thrust of a final shot that will leave its scars. It was that shot that will be debated and discussed, that play that will be repeated on highlight shows for weeks to come.
That play, however, was only the final blow.
For the Lightning, the real cause of death came earlier when, for some mystifying reason, it was not efficient enough — or perhaps desperate enough — to claim a game as big as this as its own. It lost when it fell behind 2-0 on its home ice. It lost because a two-goal deficit gives a team almost no margin for error.
Today, that should be the question asked of the Lightning. How could it be outplayed so badly early in a game this big? Put it this way: This time, no one is going to ask if the team was over-amped at the start. Into the second period, the Lightning was outshot 2-1 and outhit 2-1. It was hardly the look of a team with its back against the ropes.
"We've got to have a better start at home in the playoffs," said defenseman Pavel Kubina. "It happened last game and (Wednesday). I know emotions are flying up and down, but we have to be better in the first. I don't know why we freeze a little bit in the first and the first 10 minutes of the second.
"If we played all night the way we did in the second half of the game, it would be a different result. But we didn't."
And now, it is in trouble. The pulse-is-getting-weak trouble. The heartbeat-is-growing-faint trouble. The lights-are-growing-dim trouble.
You cannot overstate how huge this defeat was for the Lighting. After this, there are going to be lines in the confetti stores in Pittsburgh. After this, the Penguins are going to smell blood.
Of course, going down 3-1 to anyone in the playoffs is always a ticket to trouble. After all, only 8.7 percent of the teams have ever dug themselves out of such a hole. But going down 3-1 to Pittsburgh, a veteran team with an acrobat for a goaltender and guard dogs for defensemen, seemed like a particularly bad plan.
Win in Pittsburgh? Possible. Win again in Tampa Bay? Also possible. Win a second straight in Pittsburgh. Still possible.
Win all three in a row?
Not likely.
This one is going to sting for a while. For one thing, the Lightning spent so much time working its way out of yet another two-goal deficit. Even after its uninspired beginning, the Lightning came from behind.
In the end, if this is the end, that may be the lasting memory of Guy Boucher's first team. It fights to the end. Time after time, you think you have measured the sum of it, and time after time, it proves to be more than you thought. If it has a puncher's chance in this series, it is because of this.
It has some disadvantages, okay? The Penguins are a rebuilt team without Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, but they are rebuilt for playoff success.
Remember, the Lightning has nine players — 10 counting callup Mattias Ritola — who had never played in an NHL playoff game. By contrast, the Penguins dressed a dozen players Wednesday who have 40 games each — a half-season's worth. That has to play some part of what we are seeing in the way the Lightning has failed to defend its home ice.
Perhaps, too, it has something to do with the lingering struggles of Steven Stamkos, who found himself in front of the Penguins net with five minutes to play. The puck was on his stick — a pass from Marty St. Louis — and the net looked as large as the entrance to a freeway tunnel.
And Stamkos missed … well, he missed everything. He may have missed gravity.
I know, I know. Stamkos is still 21, and no, you shouldn't expect him to carry a team at this time of year. If he is a star, however, then shouldn't he show up somewhere along the way? At times such as these, aren't a team's best players supposed to be its best players?
That's the thing here. You get the feeling you are watching an older, wiser team take advantage of the places where the Lightning is not ready. The Penguins have won three games, two by a single heartbeat.
Is the Lightning resilient enough to win three straight and join the 8.7 percent? As plucky as this team is, can it beat the odds?
Not unless it grows up in a hurry.