Lightning fall to Jets in Winnipeg, their 4th straight defeat

Eduardo A. Encina, Tampa Bay Times on Mar 5, 2026

Published in Hockey

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The Lightning have not only struggled to capture points during their four-game losing streak, they also seem to have lost their sense of urgency.

Whatever has happened to them since they came out of the Olympic break, they’ve now officially let their Atlantic Division lead disappear, falling into a crowded chase for the five playoff spots currently held by division teams.

With Thursday’s 4-1 loss in Winnipeg and Buffalo’s 5-1 win in Pittsburgh, the Sabres have closed the gap in the division. Both teams have 80 points, and while the Lightning have a better point percentage with two games in hand, the way Tampa Bay is playing that might not be a good thing.

Their fourth straight loss tied the Lightning’s longest losing streak of the season, from Dec. 2-8. They have been outscored 20-8 during that stretch.

The Lightning’s loss was their fifth straight in Winnipeg — they haven’t won at Canada Life Centre since Jan. 17, 2020 — and they’ve lost the first two games of their four-game road trip heading into this weekend’s back-to-back in Toronto and Buffalo.

Thursday’s effort was uninspiring. The play by both teams was choppy, with two of the game’s top goaltenders doing their part to make it interesting.

Andrei Vailevskiy did his part, stopping the first 20 shots he saw, but Winnipeg struck twice in the final 4:29 of the second period. Mark Scheifele’s goal with 18 seconds left in the period was a gut punch to the Lightning.

They were certainly outplayed in that period, outshot 14-7, but they were getting away with some sloppy play and almost withstood the Jets’ push.

But off a defensive-zone faceoff win, Winnipeg created a 2-on-1 the other way. Even though Vasilevskiy stopped former Lightning forward Cole Koepke’s initial shot from the right side, the long rebound off the goaltender’s pad went right to Morgan Barron on the left side. He was able to put the puck past Vasilevskiy before he could cut off the post.

Scheifele’s goal was a result of a Darren Raddysh defensive-zone turnover. The Lightning marked Alex Iafallo trailing through the middle but left Scheifele unmarked in the left circle and he had an open one-timer that beat Vasilevskiy.