Youthful experience and bliss combining to keep Lightning in the race

by Erik Erlendsson | @Erik_Erlendsson | Like us on Facebook
March 12, 2017

TAMPA, Fla. – Taking a peek around the Lightning locker room these days is equivalent to walking in to a classroom late in the school year.

So many faces have changed from the start of the year.

As Tampa Bay gets set to face off against the New York Rangers (7 p.m., Fox Sports Sun, 970-AM, tblpowerplay.com), seven of the 20 skates to suit up on opening night against Detroit will be absent from the lineup. That number could be eight depending on the injury status of Vladislav Namestnikov.

And since the trade deadline, the Lightning became the third youngest team in the league with an average age of 26.4 years. In Saturday’s victory against Florida, Tampa Bay had nine players in the lineup under the age of 25.

Yet, they are still an experienced team

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Despite all the absences – Steven Stamkos, Ryan Callahan, Brian Boyle, Valtteri Filppula, etc. – Tampa Bay has plenty of battle-tested performers to try to help guide the team through the late-season gauntlet.

With a record of 10-2-3 in the past 15 games, the Lightning have found a way to climb back in to the playoff conversation, sitting three points behind the Toronto Maple Leafs for the final wildcard spot and five points behind Boston for the No. 3 spot in the Atlantic Division.

Every single game is going to be like a playoff game. Every goal matters. Every shift matters because every point matters.

The approach every night is that of a Game 7. Fortunately, the Lightning have plenty of players who have been there before.

”We are all right, we have a group of guys in there that have been down that road,’’ Lightning head coach Jon Cooper said. “I don’t know if we’ve quite been down (this road) of being outside the playoff picture this deep in to the season. But the teams that we have to climb over has gotten smaller and that’s a good thing. Instead of having your sites on six teams, you have your sights on two or three. And when we have that, things are going well for you.

“But we have no room to take our foot off the gas, we have to keep going here and the experience of what these guys have gone through before hopefully can pull you through.’’

Despite the youthfulness on the current roster, Tampa Bay still has at least 11 players that will suit up against the Rangers on Monday that have been on the ice in pressure packed situations the past two playoff seasons. All 11 of those players were on the ice for Game 7 of the Eastern Conference finals last seasons, including 21-year-old Jonathan Drouin, who notched the only goal for the Lightning in a 2-1 loss to Pittsburgh.

”We still have some young guys that have been through the playoffs, the Stanley Cup Final two years ago and the Eastern Conference finals last year,’’ Drouin said. “So maybe we are young and we lost some older guys like Boyle, Filppula and Bish, but we do have that experience, we used to playing in those games and we want to play in those games. But no matter, we have to battle, every team does, young our old. Every team does and you have to bring it every night.’’

That can help bring along some of the more inexperienced players and get them accustomed to being in high intense games. Yanni Gourde showed that off in his seventh career NHL game, playing 17-plus minutes against Florida on Saturday while asked to take on a greatly expanded role due to injuries sustained by Tyler Johnson, Cedric Paquette and Namestnikov.

Gourde thrived and scored an important goal, fending off Vincent Trocheck to score a shorthanded goal midway through the second to tie the game. It was Gourde’s first career NHL goal.

”It’s really my game, I like to play intense with a high compete level so it’s kind of fun to play that game and be up here right now,’’ Gourde said.

Almost as if it’s youtful bliss being ignorant of the situation. They just go out and play.

”It’s extremely unfortunate that we’re missing some really influential players on this team,’’ Cooper said. “But to have those kids come up here and do everything they can to help this team win, not care about the stage that they’re on, not care that we can’t lose games, it’s all about competing and winning and it’s paying off.’’

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