Tampa Bay Lighting vs Arizona Coyotes final score 7-3: Coyotes fall in dramatic fashion to the Lightning

The Arizona Coyotes don’t just fall, they fall hard in a 7-3 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning

The Coyotes have made it a habit to go down in a blaze of fire and glory against some of the most intimidating teams in the league, and they didn’t disappoint Tuesday night in Tampa, Florida.

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The team started off the game going down 3-0 before even getting on the board, watching as Brian Boyle, Valtteri Filippula, and Nikita Kucherov scored back-to-back in the first and early parts of the second. This would set somewhat of a tone for the rest of the game.

The team started to struggle back as the second period wore on, with both Shane Doan and BJ Crombeen finally getting on the board with a goal apiece, but Tampa Bay brought on an onslaught of goals over the course of sixty minutes to ultimately send the Coyotes home with yet another loss in the books.

Sam Gagner rose to the occasion for the second night in a row, pitching in with his second assist of the season. Coyotes fans have yet to see Gagner score a goal, but he’s doing a good job of bringing in the assists, making him the dark horse playmaker on the team’s roster.

The Coyotes’ weakest player tonight, once again, was Mike Smith. This game didn’t see quite the defensive issues that the team’s first game against Winnipeg witnessed, yet Smith was still unable to put himself in a position where he could make consistent, league-level saves. He looked like a backup, and the team was unable to recover.

Oct 28, 2014; Tampa, FL, USA; Tampa Bay Lightning right wing Nikita Kucherov (86) is congratulated by center Tyler Johnson (9) after he scored a goal against Arizona Coyotes goalie Mike Smith (41) during the second period at Amalie Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports

Tampa Bay will have plenty to talk about in the morning, as newcomer Brian Boyle came remarkably close to putting up a hat trick and Kucherov actually achieved the feat. Netminder Ben Bishop was less than perfect, but he did his job well enough to prevent the team from meeting the same demise as the Boston Bruins, who fell in the final period Tuesday night with three unanswered goals from Minnesota causing a 4-3 loss.

The Coyotes were outshot 35-25, reminding fans that sometimes, score effects really are a thing. The franchise took a whopping four penalties to Tampa Bay’s one, which also contributed to their downfall.

"The only plus to the whole game was the three goals fans got to witness- of all the blowout games the Coyotes have managed to record in their first month of the 2014-2015 season, this one saw the team bring home the highest goals for."

They go on to play the Florida Panthers for the second time in a week on Thursday, October 30th. The Coyotes were victorious in the two teams’ first matchup of the season, so hopefully they can turn this week around with that game.

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