Game 4 - Can't Win Em All

Game: 4

Opponent: at Detroit

Did I watch Live?: Nope

Why Not?: NHL.com's weird blackout rules

Did I watch on replay?: Only the condensed version.

Three Stars: I'll take a pass on this one.

Worst Play: Again, I should pass, but I did see Matt Carle in the penalty box, so I'll go with that.

Thoughts:

So I haven't watched this entire game yet, but from what I've seen and read the 3-1 loss wasn't a horrible result. The Lightning were playing their third game in four nights and were on the second part of back-to-back road games.

They played pretty solid, but just couldn't get on the board early (highlighted by Steven Stamkos ringing a shot off the post in the second period). Sometimes the other team just plays better. Luckily for the Lightning it doesn't happen that often. If they grab four of six points on all of their three game road trips this year then it's going to be a good year.

That being said, I was kind of disappointed that they faced Detroit a little shorthanded. The Red Wings were the first team they played that had true playoff aspirations so you could say that they were the first “good” team that they faced this season. They would be a good measuring stick for the Lightning.

Do we know how good the Lightning are, yet? They've disposed of three teams that had not won a game until a couple of days ago. Their penalty kill is a disparaging 58.3% and they are winning less than 50% of their face-offs. They are 3-1 on the season, but there are some underlying trends that need to be fixed soon.

Jo or Johnny:

Johnny Hockey is still a game behind, but he's riding a three game point streak. He sits at 5 points with 1 goal and 4 helpers. Jo Drouin has a modest two game streak to bring his total up to 4 points (1 goal and 3 helpers). Against Detroit he picked up his assist on a nice one-time pass to Ryan Callahan who banged it home.