Sometimes after a loss you try to put lipstick on the proverbial pig and dress up that stinker a bit.
But when you lose the same way, time and time again, you realize that the pig is just a pig, lipstick or no lipstick.
A little bit of the same ole story doomed the Atlanta Thrashers once again in Blueland late Sunday afternoon.
Atlanta spotted the Tampa Bay Lightning a two goal lead before showing up with three goals in the third period, but Steven Stamkos tallied midway into the overtime session to lift the Lightning to a 4-3 win at Philips Arena.
Slava Kozlov, Evander Kane and Tobias Enstrom tallied for the Thrashers, who were not happy with the single point in this one.
“They should be embarrassed after the first two periods,” coach John Anderson said afterwards. “That’s the term that comes to mind. You get dejected because you feel like you wasted the first two periods.
It’s a game we had to have. It’s a must win. It didn’t look like a must win. It looked like, ‘oh, let’s see what we can do and come back in the third period.’”
The Thrashers have made a nasty habit of spotting the opposing team multi-goal leads at home before finally showing up in the last 20-30 minutes of the hockey game.
When the Thrashers show up in the first two periods, they are a very, very good hockey team. The club is 7-0-0 when scoring first, 6-0-0 with a lead after one period and 7-0-0 when leading after two periods.
But when they play the type of hockey they did on Sunday, they are almost certainly destined for another disappointing loss in Blueland.
Atlanta spotted the Pittsburgh Penguins a three-goal lead on Saturday night and lost. This time, it was only a pair of goals, but the result was ultimately the same.
“It’s the same story, the same song,” Atlanta netminder Ondrej Pavelec said. “We were a little bit lucky after the second, it was 2-0. They hit the post four times. We came back in the third and started playing in the third.
Every game, the same thing, every game. In the NHL if you play only 20 minutes or say 10 minutes, you can’t win the game.”
Stephane Veilleux and Ryan Malone recorded second period tallies to stake Tampa Bay to that two-goal lead as the Thrashers were outshot, 24-16, over the first two periods.
An aggravated Anderson shuffled the left wingers in the final period and the Thrashers responded, rallying with three goals sandwiched around a tally by Kurtis Foster.
“It’s not very encouraging the way we have been going here at home,” a dejected Colby Armstrong said afterwards. “Coach changed the lines to get something working. I guess it worked for the most part as we were able to come back and get a point.”
Enstrom cut the lead to 2-1 with a blistering shot from the edge of the right faceoff circle, beating Tampa Bay netminder Antero Niittymaki to the top shelf 5:29 into the final period before Foster answered on the power play.
Kozlov folled with a tally with 4:23 remaining before Kane had two smacks at the puck at the left doorstep, burying the equalizer with 2:31 remaining.
But a defensive lapse finally finished off the Thrashers in the extra session.
Ron Hainsey misplayed the puck, which landed on the stick of Martin St. Louis. The Tampa forward slid the puck to Stamkos on the doorstep, who put the puck into the vacated side of the net for the winning score.
Another day, another home loss for the Thrashers.
“Nothing to tell you,” Anderson said of the typical blueprint to the Atlanta home loss. “You saw it. Has it changed? At some point, our guys have got to take it on their own shoulders. We’ve got to get going in the first period or we’re going to be chasing all year.”
Atlanta would not have been in this but for a sensational night from Pavelec, who stopped 36 of 40 shots in this one.
It could have been much, much worse if the netminder was not sharp in the first period.
“We stole a point today,” Pavelec said. “That’s key, but if we would have played a full 60 minutes, we may have gotten two points.”
Nik Antropov had a pair of helpers for the Thrashers, who fell to 1-7-3 when trailing after two periods.
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