Sunrise proved a wake up call for Tampa Bay Lightning

by Erik Erlendsson | @Erik_Erlendsson | Like us on Facebook
October 14, 2017

TAMPA – Like the rooster announcing the arrival of the day, Sunrise proved a wakeup call for the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Consider the Lighting wide awake after two areas of vast improvement.

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Tampa Bay finished off an impressive sweep of a three-game homestand with a solid 2-1 victory against the St. Louis Blues on Saturday.

Nikita Kucherov scored for the fifth consecutive game becoming the first player in the league to record a goal in five straight games to start the season since Patrick Marleau in 2012-13 with the San Jose Shark. Tyler Johnson notched his second of the season, connecting on the power play to give Tampa Bay at least one power play goal in each of the five games this season.

Andrei Vasilevskiy finished with 28 saves.

The three-game sweep seems a long way from where the Lightning were at this time last week.

Following a loss against the Florida Panthers on Oct. 7 at BB&T Center in Sunrise, questions quickly surfaced about what kind of team the Lightning were going to be this season.

After all, Tampa Bay looked unimpressive in an opening-night victory at home against the Panthers. The next night, the Lightning looked lethargic in allowing 48 shots on goal – 40 in the first two periods – and blowing a third-period lead by allowing two goals within a minute.

Too many shots, too many chances, too many goals allowed and not enough push in Tampa Bay’s game. That led to wonder whether or not all the preseason talk surrounding this team was warranted or what kind of message was getting through to the players.

A week later, Tampa Bay has earned victories against Washington, Pittsburgh and St. Louis – all three playoff teams which advanced at least to the second last season.

Since that loss to Florida, however, the Lightning have looked like a team more in control of their game. They are not allowing teams to skate through and around them. The puck does not look like a grenade on their stick while passes look more in synch.

”I think everyone is just kind of on the same page, everyone knows where the puck is going to go,’’ Johnson said. “When you can do that it makes you look like a fast team and we are just kind of playing the way we want to play.’’

One area that is much more improved is the team’s play getting in to the offensive zone.

Instead of looking to always carry the puck in to the zone and try to create something off the rush, the Lightning have been more willing to get pucks in deep behind the opposing defense and create an effective forecheck to get the puck back.

”Ask any defenseman and they’d rather you come up, especially the way teams back pressure now and the D gap up, it’s really hard to get through them,’’ Lightning head coach Jon Cooper said. “You are going to get your chances and that’s what you have to get your team to realize, there are going to be rush chances, they happen, you can’t just think it’s going to happen every single time.

”So when you have to make a defenseman go back and chase pucks, it’s hard. And when you do it enough, eventually you are going to tilt the field position your way. That’s what we tried to do.’’

By playing more dump-and-chase, it has also cut down tremendously on the number of turnovers through the neutral zone as well as at the offensive blue line. It has allowed Tampa Bay to play more of a fluid game instead of such a constant high-risk style of game.

It’s not perfect by any stretch, but the play the neutral zone on both sides of the puck has tightened up, the defenseman are minding their gaps better and stepping up to cut off pucks.

”We are getting better,’’ Cooper said. “It’s a work in progress and you can try to replicate things in the preseason but it’s not the same until you get your own personnel and your own pairings together, your lines together and a feel for how you are going to play you are figuring things out. So it’s nice that we are winning while we are doing this, too.

“But where we were sitting a week ago tonight to where we are sitting now, we are definitely a lot happier. But we are just playing with a lot more urgency and a lot more responsibility. That’s why we have strung together a few wins here.’’

it’s all come together from that near embarrassing performance on the road in Sunrise.

”You never want to give up as many shots like we did, and I think after that game we just woke up and started to put the puck behind the net and shoot as much we can,’’ Kucherov said.

Postgame notes:. C Cedric Paquette returned to the lineup after missing the previous game. … A pregame ceremony as part of the 25th Anniversary season was held to honor the inaugural team from 1992-93 with 16 players present plus first head coach Terry Crisp. … Tampa Bay scratched RW J.T. Brown, LW Gabriel Dumont and D Andrej Sustr. … Tampa Bay has a power play goal in each of the five games this season. … C Steven Stamkos extended his point streak to five games.

My three stars:
1.Lightning G Andrei Vasilevskiy – Finished with 28 saves, including all 15 in the opening period

2.Lightning RW Nikita Kucherov – Goal, plus-1, eight shot attempts

3.Lightning LW Vladislav Namestnikov – Assist, strong two-way night

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