A not so sharp showing for Lightning at a time they can’t afford to be dull

by Erik Erlendsson | @Erik_Erlendsson | Like us on Facebook
September 26, 2017

SUNRISE – It’s just the preseason.

Yes, I understand that, b…..

It’s just the preseason.

No, I totally get it, the games don’t have any mean…..

I said, it’s just preseason.

I get where you are coming from, there is still more than a week before the regular. . . .

I SAID THAT THIS IS JUST PRESEASON!!!!!!!

I imagine this is the struggle many had as Tampa Bay’s fifth preseason game unfolded, wrestling internally with the way things transpired. Because, after all, it is just preseason.

But there should be some cause for alarm as the start of the regular season draws closer after watching Tuesday’s 4-2 loss at Florida.

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The Lightning on Tuesday did not have the look of a team that is ready to begin the regular season in less than two weeks. With a good portion of the regulars in the lineup, there was plenty missing from their game.

Passes were not sharp, turnovers were aplenty, forechecking almost non-existent. And let’s not touch on special teams quite yet.

The most alarming aspect of the way the game transpired has to be the poor puck protection. The decision-making with the puck was poor for good portions of the game. And when the Lightning did have the puck, they were being forced to throw the puck in deep and try to establish a forecheck, which never really happened. When the puck would get in the Florida end, the Panthers were the first ones there to retrieve with little pressure and out the other way came they came.

”For the first half of that game we got out-skated, we lost puck battles, we turned pucks over,’’ Lightning head coach Jon Cooper said. “The turnovers, we didn’t look after the puck, especially in the first two periods and it slows you down. All of sudden you have to stop and go back, and that makes it tough.’’

Before the game, Cooper made a statement that the “pre-preseason is over’’ and the time to sharpen things up, narrowing the focus and getting in to regular season mode is upon them with the roster down to 26 (which doesn’t count four injured players) and most of the team that will open the season on the ice in these final few games.

Instead, the game looked and felt like . . . well, a preseason game for the most part. Almost like too many times players appeared to be going through the motions of just putting in the work and not preparing to go to work.

Passes were being forced in to areas that are prone to pucks being picked off. In total, the Lightning were “credited’’ with nine giveaways – five by Steven Stamkos – while the Panthers were “credited’’ with 15 takeaways for a total of 24 turnovers that appeared on the scoresheet. In reality there were probably many more that won’t show up in the boxscore.

It’s an area that needs dose of Mr. Sparkle to clean up before the puck drops in a game that has meaning.

“There are only six periods left (in the preseason) and if we have learned anything from the past two seasons, we want to start the season on time and not get behind the eight ball,’’ Stamkos said. “There are definitely some areas we need to improve. We need to shake off the rust, I know it’s still preseason and I’m confident we will get better, but there are only two games left and we’ll put a little more emphasis on getting better in those area.’’

Tampa Bay is a team full of veterans, even for such a young team. And sometimes what you see is a team anxious to get out of the preseason and get the regular season underway. That could possibly be the case here, the Lightning are a team considered one of the favorites to come out of the Eastern Conference this season and after missing the playoffs completely last season, there has be some eagerness to get things underway.

But there should also be some urgency that you can’t get to the postseason without a good regular season and you can’t have a good regular season without getting ready in the preseason.

”There is urgency, especially when you are coming off a year in which you don’t make the playoffs,’’ Stamkos said. “We are not sitting in thinking that we’ll just flip the switch when the season starts, we need to get better. These last couple of games we’ll see more of the guys that will be on the opening night roster and lineup, so we need to come together. I know we’ve had the same core guys for awhile but it always takes some time to get that chemistry back and that’s what we’ll do the last couple of games.’’

But it’s going to take more than just re-establishing chemistry.

”I thought in the first and second period we were kind of sloppy, we weren’t dictating the play and we were reacting to what they were doing,’’ said Ryan Callahan, who scored Tampa Bay’s first goal, his first of the preseason. “You use these preseason games to try to get better, working on systems you are learning in camp, obviously the end result you always want to get that win. But I liked the way we were trending in that game. It wasn’t our best in the first two periods, I think we all know that in here. But hopefully we take that third period and bring it in here Thursday and have that for three periods.’’

Yes, the Lightning did get a little bit of a message after two periods and played much better, getting in on the forecheck, establishing a net-front presence. They ended up with 19 shots on goal in the perod and 40 for the game. Both of their goals came in the third – one by Callahan and the second by Nikita Kucherov with 1:03 left.

But just like the Lightning’s regular season last year, things started off slow before they picked things up only to fall just short in the end.

It’s sort of an alarming trend, even if it is only preseason.

POSTGAME NOTES and OBSERVATIONS: Anton Stralman made his preseason debut, logging 21:12 of ice time while paired with Mikhail Sergachev, who played 19:50 and registered an assist. … Ryan Callahan said he felt better in his second preseason game action compared to his first, finishing with 11:2 of ice time. … The line of Brayden Point-Steven Stamkos-Nikita Kucherov combined for 17 shots on goal and 23 shot attempts. … Rookie Alexander Volkov, a surprise to still be in camp with the team, played on a line with Tyler Johnson and Ondrej Palat, but failed to register a shot attempt despite over four minutes of power play time and 15 minutes of ice time total. … Don’t believe either Cory Conacher or Michael Bournival put on a strong enough case to earn a spot on the opening night roster after neither cracked the 11-minute mark in ice time. … Yanni Gourde is going to be a key guy on the penalty kill this year. … Andrej Sustr may be trying to force his way into the window of opportunity created with Jake Dotchin under whatever suspension he’s been placed on for violating a team rule. Sustr looked comfortable in playing nearly 19 minutes. … Slater Koekkoek played another solid, if not spectacular, game, which is not a bad thing for the former 10th overall pick.

Postgame Locker room reaction

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