The Tampa Bay Lightning got off to a great start Sunday night against the Nashville Predators at the St. Pete Times Forum; then they dug themselves a hole that they just couldn't climb out of.
The Bolts got out of the starting gate quickly when Pavel Kubina stole the puck on an errant pass at the offensive zone blue line. He slid a pass to Sean Bergenheim, who skated in on a breakaway and beat Nashville goaltender Anders Lindback to put the Lightning ahead 1-0 at 6:30 of the first. Nashville was able to answer right back, though, when a deflected shot bounced right to Shea Weber; he was looking at an open net and tied the score at 11:54 of the first. Sergei Kostitsyn put Nashville ahead at the 15:04 mark when he found a loose puck in the crease after a shot from the high slot caused a scramble in front; it was his first goal of the year.
This article appears in Oct 21-27, 2010.