The Tampa Bay Lightning thought they had a turned a corner with three-straight victories against teams -- New York Rangers, Anaheim and L.A. -- expected to figure prominently in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Back-to-back underwhelming performances and losses, however, have the Lightning headed back to the drawing board.
Tampa Bay didn’t show up to its day-after-Thanksgiving meeting with the Caps in Washington until the third period. Trailing 4-0, the Bolts had too much deficit to make up in a 4-2 loss.
A day later, the Lightning, eager to erase the uninspired performance in D.C. from their memory, started with more energy against the New York Islanders and built a 2-0 lead.