'Supposed to be a special night': Sergachev's return to Tampa ruined in Utah's 8-0 loss

SALT LAKE CITY — As Mikhail Sergachev walked through the tunnels of Amalie Arena Thursday morning, he couldn't help but smile. It was Sergachev's first time back in Tampa Bay since the trade to Utah last summer, and it was hard not to reminisce.

"It's cool passing our locker room — Tampa locker room now, I guess," he said. "It brings back a lot of good memories. It doesn't bring any bad ones anymore."

That might have changed come Thursday night.

Sergachev's former team blasted his new one with the Lightning rolling to an 8-0 win over the Utah Hockey Club. It was the most lopsided loss of the season for Utah and the first time the team allowed eight goals in a game.

With that, all the welcome back signs that littered the arena, his first-ever ceremonial face-off, and the touching tribute video that was played for him were all a bit soured.

"This was supposed to be a special night," he said.

Instead, it was a game the team would like to forget.

Tampa Bay's Jake Guentzel scored 90 seconds into the game and Segachev's long-time mentor Victor Hedman doubled the advantage before the game was five minutes old.

"It's really disappointing the way we came out," head coach André Tourigny said. "We didn't win enough battles, didn't get on the inside. You play a good team like that you have to be ready to fight; and in our situation, it's disappointing."

As bad as that start was, though, the second period was significantly worse.

The Lightning scored four goals in the second, chasing Utah goalie Karel Vejmelka out of the game.

"That was terrible from start to the finish," Sergachev said. "We didn't play nearly the style of game that we wanted to play. And it showed. When you play like that against a team like Tampa, you're going to get blown out. That's what happened."

When asked why Tampa was so difficult for Utah to handle on Thursday, he said the team needed to look in the mirror.

"This is not about Tampa," he said.

Added Tourigny: "Where was our pushback? There was none."

It was the third loss in five games for Utah, with each one coming in blowout fashion. Utah lost to Edmonton 7-1 last week and fell 5-1 to Detroit on Monday.

A team that has felt like it's been playing do-or-die games for the better part of a month seems to have run out of juice. Just one example: Utah's netminder. Vejmelka started his 15th straight game on Thursday, and his effectiveness has seen a steep decline in recent games.

And now the playoff hopes are nearly dead. Utah is 10 points down with 10 games remaining. The Club gave it a run, even pulling within a few points of the playoff line at times over the last couple weeks, but the string of losses (and a lengthy winning streak by the St. Louis Blues, which now stands at eight) has left the team with a mighty mountain to climb.

"We need to make a decision if we want to be in the playoffs, if we want to fight for the playoffs or not right now," Sergachev said. "This is kind of a punch in the face where we got to step back and see what we want out of the season."

Because Thursday wasn't what he wanted in his return to the place where he won two Stanley Cups and never missed the postseason.

"It's tough to talk about it right now after a game like that," he said.

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