The Tampa Bay Lightning's road trip concluded with a 5-2 loss to the Philadelphia Flyers on Saturday night.
The Flyers scored three goals in the third period to power over the Lightning and win their fifth straight game.
The Lightning scored first in this one when Ryan Shannon finished off an impressive pass from Dominic Moore, who has three points in his last two games. Tampa Bay's one goal lead disappeared in the second period when Danny Briere and Jaromir Jagr each scored within 34 seconds of each other. On both goals, the Lightning lost the puck at the blue line and the Flyers jumped on the turnovers to take their first lead of the game. Both goals beat Mathieu Garon glove-high . Then, at 14:49 of the second period, Wayne Simmonds extended Philadelphia's lead when his backhand pass in the crease bounced off of Brett Clark's foot, and ricocheted into the net. But, Vincent Lecavalier's wrist shot cut the lead to one for Tampa Bay 55 seconds into the third period. Unfortunately, the Lightning were on the bad end of a poor penalty call when Steve Downie was called for boarding after a clean hit behind the Flyers net. The penalty led to Matt Carle scoring a power play goal, giving the Flyers a 4-2 lead. Garon undoubtedly was Tampa Bay's best player in the loss; he came up with some pivotal, timely saves that kept the game competitive for the Lightning. Without his standout play between the pipes, the Flyers' high powered offense could have easily scored more goals. The reason for the loss is simple. The Lightning didn't shoot at the net enough, just like have in the last few outings. Tampa Bay has not scored more than three goals since its 4-3 win against the Florida Panthers on Nov. 6. If Tampa Bay is going to turn things around they must get back to basics. Shoot at everything and give up getting the pretty shot. Nothing bad can result form shooting the puck too much. The lack of offense is costing Tampa Bay some crucial points and they need a turnaround, quick. Scoring two goals a game is not going to cut it. The Lightning also have to get things going on the man advantage. They were 0-for-3 with only two shots on the power play before Lecavalier's goal.