A shot from the outside, no one home to recover the puck and Columbus brings it back for the final nail in the coffin. Body language shows this team is getting frustrated, just look and Ryan McDonagh’s reaction after that empty-netter. It’s a vicious cycle that can easily spiral out of control. More frustration leads to poor play which just leads to more frustration, so on and so forth. It doesn’t help that the Blue Jackets seem to have a lot of bounces going their way.

Despite the 3-0 series, both teams’ expected goals tally has been nearly identical. 7.68 for the Lightning, 7.60 for the Blue Jackets, yet goals are 12-5 in the underdogs’ favor. Andrei Vasilevkiy went from a Vezina-caliber season where he saved more goals relative to league average than anyone in the NHL to costing his team over a goal per game.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying Vasilevskiy is overrated or that he’s a terrible goalie, but he’s definitely not been his regular season self over the last three games. He’s been especially struggling on high-blocker shots, giving up more goals in that area than the rest of the net combined.