The time for changes may be at hand for Lightning

by Erik Erlendsson | @Erik_Erlendsson | Like us on Facebook
January 5, 2017

TAMPA, Fla. – The time has come.

That big red panic button that I’ve cautioned many fans to keep nearby, but not press – it’s time to press it.

The Lightning are in trouble and there is no sign of a rescue on the horizon.

Changes are needed. And they need to come soon.

Tampa Bay went in to what amounted to a must-win game to close out a five-game home stand and lost 6-1 to the Nashville Predators. They lost 6-1!

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Normally you could chalk this one up to a case of bad luck. After all, the Predators were efficient in scoring six goals on 19 shots (technically five on 18 since one was an empty net goal) and Tampa Bay had a shot attempt advantage of 69-35. Andrei Vasilevskiy, who stopped just 13 shots needed to be better than he was. The Lightning needed to be better than they were, getting 24 of those 69 shot attempts blocked by Nashville.

Yes, you could easily say it just wasn’t their night, and that was the general theme coming out of the locker room.

“There’s a lot to build on that. We didn’t really give them much the whole night,” Lightning head coach Jon Cooper said. “They had 24 blocked shots. That’s a lot. That’s more than shots on goal they had. They were defending as well, but I thought we did a lot of good things. We didn’t have a ton of scoring chances either so, that’s what I’m saying. It’s hard to say if the score was indicative of the game, but, as you said, we’re going to wake up in the morning and it’s going to say 6-1 so I guess it was a 6-1 game.”

What really mattered, though, is it was a 6-1 result. And the Lightning need results.

All the build up from the start of the five-game home stand, picking up points in seven of eight games, winning consecutive games for the first time in more than a month – it all means squat right now.

These final two games the Lightning were awful. They needed to be much better. They needed to build up momentum.

Instead they will limp in to a weekend set against Philadelphia and Pittsburgh.

If I’m Steve Yzerman watching this team the past two games, I realize the time start to make changes is now. This team needs a jolt of reality. The injury excuse only goes so far, and to be fair, they have been decimated by injuries this season.

But the time for change is upon. If Yzerman was antsy a month ago during a 5-1 loss to Vancouver – CBC’s Elliotte Friedman said as much in his 30 Thoughts column a couple of weeks back – he must be ready to make a move in the very near future.

Maybe we’ve already seen some of it, with the amount of young forwards coming up to make their NHL debut. Maybe we’ve seen it with the scratch of defenseman Andrej Sustr, was sat out Thursday’s game as a healthy scratch.

This team is in dire need of help on defense. Once you get past Victor Hedman and Anton Stralman, it’s a big drop off and that’s a reason why, at times, Hedman and Stralman have been broken up to try and spread that out and make sure of of the two are on the ice every other shift.

I’m an optimist by nature, I tend to see the positive in most situations. It’s hard to find many watching this team right now.

There is a vibe that I can sense right now and it’s the foreboding of change. It has a similar feel to the tail end of the 2013 lockout shortened season when it seemed the team was just playing through the motions. Young players – Tyler Johnson, Ondrej Palat, Mark Barberio, Radko Gudas – were all being brought up to see how they looked at the NHL level as Yzerman, ever the chess player, evaluated as much as possible.

The head coach was fired.

I don’t think we are at that point – yet.

But changes need to be made.

Just like the optics may not have matched the result on Thursday, the optics of this team right now are out of focus.

Something needs to change. Soon.

Postgame notes: D Andrej Sustr was a healthy scratch. “We are trying to put the best team on the ice possible to win a hockey game. We didn’t give up a ton of scoring chances or shots, so I thought we defended well tonight.” … D Braydon Coburn took just one shift in the third period and did not return. Cooper said he would be evaluated before the team leaves for Philadelphia on Friday. … C Cedric Paquette returned to the lineup after missing six games with an undisclosed lower body injury. … C Brian Boyle missed his second consecutive game with a lower-body injury. … G Ben Bishop took part in the optional morning skate. Cooper said the time frame for his return remains on track and Bishop could join the team for the upcoming six-game road trip that starts in Los Angeles on Jan. 15 … Nashville blocked 24 shots in the game.

My three stars:
1.Predators C Colton Sissons – First career hat trick, plus-3, four hits.

2.Predators C Mike Fisher – Goal, assist, 10-of-16 in faceoffs

3.Predators G Pekka Rinne – Stopped 27 shots for the victory

Victor Hedman discusses the 6-1 loss to Nashville

Tyler Johnson after the 6-1 loss to Nashville

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