The Lightning lost the special teams battle.
During the regular season, the Lighting converted a league-best 28.2% of their power plays. They killed off 85% of their penalties, tied with Columbus and Arizona for tops in the NHL. In this series? Tampa Bay went 1-for-6 on the power play and didn’t convert until Game 4. A lot of people took issue with the disparity in calls between the two teams. No doubt there were some missed calls in this series on both sides, but the officials did not cost Tampa Bay this series despite what some might think.
Meanwhile, Columbus’s power play transformed into an unstoppable force. The Blue Jackets converted on five out of 10 power play chances in a series in which Columbus’s 5-on-5 goal advantage was merely 8-6. Any time you cash in on half your power plays, you’re giving yourself an excellent chance at advancing.
Bobrovsky gave the Blue Jackets saves when they needed them and Vasilevskiy didn’t.
Entering the playoffs, Bobrovsky, a two-time Vezina Trophy winner, was not known for his playoff exploits. In his three previous postseason appearances, his save percentages looked like this: .908 in 2014, .882 in 2017, and .900 in 2018. Throughout this series, the Lightning didn’t make him work all that much, but when they did create opportunities, Bobrovsky slammed the door shut. He concluded the sweep with a .932 save percentage and a 2.01 GAA. His efforts in the third period of Game 4 helped Columbus stave off the Bolts and end the series when the Lightning made a huge push to keep their season alive.
In the other crease, Vasilevskiy posted an unsightly 3.82 GAA and .856 save percentage. Throughout the regular season, his ability to provide timely saves and occasionally steal victories made him a Vezina candidate. During this series, he struggled mightily, failing to track the puck as well as he usually does and giving up a few goals from longer range that he normally doesn’t allow.
The injury bug hit the blue line at the worst time.
I’ll just say right now that every team is going to deal with some bumps and bruises at this time of the year. It’s not a primary reason why the Lightning lost this series, but it certainly didn’t help. Hedman played the first two games of the series before being shut down for the final two. Having suffered an injury in the team’s 78th game, he never looked right upon his return for Game 1 and may have come back too soon.
Anton Stralman didn’t play in this series as he continued to battle injuries. Any time you’re missing two of your top veteran defenseman for any stretch of time, that’s going to be felt negatively. McDonagh, who had arguably his best season, was a shell of himself this series. Mikhail Sergachev was up-and-down, while Jan Rutta and Dan Girardi failed to make an impact. Coburn and Cernak were easily the Lightning’s best blue-liners against Columbus.
