Tampa Bay Lightning reinventing what it means to have a Top Nine

by Erik Erlendsson | @Erik_Erlendsson | Like us on Facebook
October 20, 2017

BRANDON – There are not many things in hockey that truly inventive.

But two weeks in to the season, the Tampa Bay Lightning are doing some re-inventing of what means to have a top-nine utilizing fractured line combinations that feature all of the team’s top forwards.

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While Tampa Bay’s line combinations have been relatively constant since opening night, there is one that is in constant flux – call it the TKO line. Tyler Johnson with Alex Killorn and Other.

As the Lightning have dressed a lineup with 11 forwards, it leaves the team one short of the normal allotment of forwards so the line combinations are uneven. It’s not unusual for a team to dress this sort of lineup. Head coach Jon Cooper did it frequently during his days in the American Hockey League while leading the Norfolk Admirals to a Calder Cup Championship in 2012. Former Tampa Bay head coach Guy Boucher did it quite a bit during his time behind the Lightning bench.

But many times when a team runs the 11/7 alignment, it’s often the fourth line that is one short with various players taking extra shifts on the wing.

Under the current set up with the Lightning, however, by utilizing Johnson and Killorn as the two constants, Tampa Bay is able to slide in extra shifts for Nikita Kucherov or Steven Stamkos or Brayden Point or Ondrej Palat or Vladislav Namestnkov or Yanni Gourde or Ryan Callahan . . . .well, you get the idea.

In a sense, this has essentially created a second second-line, sending out top players on extra shifts with top players creating an additional scoring line while also creating matchup issues for the opposing team.

”If you ask any offensive player, using the 7/11 is great,’’ Stamkos said. “And it’s kind of unique to have those guys as the two-thirds of a line. And it’s different to get thrown out there with Johnny and Killer, so it’s exciting when you get to go out on the ice, offensively, that you have the chance to put the puck in the net, especially when you are feeling good and want to get back out there.’’

For Johnson and Killorn, two players who have been frequent in the team’s top six for the past few seasons, it’s a little bit of a different role. While they know they are going to be on the ice together, they have to be prepared for whichever player is going to be jumping over the boards with them.

And most times, they don’t even know until about 10 seconds before their shift is set to begin.

”It can be tough, you don’t really get the necessary chemistry,’’ Johnson said. “You can’t really talk about improvements you want to make or know what they are doing because everybody plays a little different. But the good thing for us is we have a lot guys on our team that have a lot of skill and can really play with everybody. You just have to get used to a lot of different people.’’

Here’s how it plays out (Note, Jon Cooper declined to speak to me about this story on Friday):

When it’s time for Johnson and Killorn to take a shift, Cooper calls out their names and adds in the extra forward who will be heading out with them. It might be a slight rotation, it might be a feel for who is going in that particular game or period or it could be a particular matchup Cooper is looking for at that moment in the game.

It might be Kucherov. Maybe Stamkos is up. No matter who is tabbed to take the shift, the notice is short.

”Usually it’s Coop looking down the bench, seeing who is ready to play,’’ Killorn said. “But it’s pretty quick.’’

It keeps everybody on their toes.

”Everybody gets the chance to roll through at some point, which is good,’’ Point said. “It gives guys more ice and more opportunity plus you get the chance to play with two pretty good players.’’

It’s been a formula that has paid off as the team is off to a 6-1-1 start. It hasn’t affected the ice time or role of either Killorn or Johnson. Killorn is averaging 17:19 per game while Johnson is playing 16:25 of ice time. Both see power play time, Killorn at 3:42 of power play time and Johnson at 2:45 per game. Both are right around 2:30 of shorthanded time per game.

It’s been an adjustment, but both are settling in to the role asked of them since the coaching staff moved to the current alignment.

”They are veterans on our team and they are excellent hockey players,’’ associate coach Rick Bowness said. “Those are things in the early course of an 82-game schedule you have to be able to sort out and they have done a very good job of handing it. But they have very good hockey sense, they very good hockey players and they should be able to sort that out.

“Is it the easiest thing? No, but I’m a big believer in duos, really, if you look around that the history of our game there have been a lot of great duos and the third guy on the line constantly changing. So this is nothing new and this is something that they should be able to handle and they have.’’

There have been no in-game issues, no on-the-bench confusions that have popped up that could result in a too many men on the ice penalty if the message does not get conveyed properly. It’s been the same on the ice, everybody appears to be on the same page.

”We are playing the same system as everybody else, so there has been no confusion on that part, it’s just little things that aren’t connecting as well at certain times,’’ Johnson said. “It’s an adjustment, something that we have been working on and will get better with time.’’

At some point, whomever is over on the right wing side with the duo, there’s a good chance it’s going to be somebody they have played with at some point over the past few seasons.

”We’ve played with a lot of these guys at certain points in the time we’ve been here so we understand what everybody brings to a line and what kind of player guys are,’’ Killorn said. “Sometimes it can be a little difficult switching throughout the game but we’ve gotten pretty used to it by now.’’

It’s been a bit of a creative way to reinvent the top nine.

”Whatever it takes to win, let’s do it,’’ Bowness said.

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