Tampa Bay Lightning looking to reset after record start

by Erik Erlendsson | @Erik_Erlendsson | Like us on Facebook
November 3, 2017

BRANDON – October proved fruitful for the Lightning, setting all sorts of opening-month franchise marks.

That success has put a mark squarely on the team’s back that every other team is aiming for.

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”When you put yourself at the top of the league you are going get your opponent’s best game every night,’’ Tampa Bay assistant coach Todd Richards said. ”You are going to put a target on your back and you are the measuring stick that everybody comes in as says “Where do we stand in this league, where do we fit? If these guys are the best, how do we stand up to them?’ So you are going to get a team’s best focus and their best game every night.’’

One month in to the season the Lightning sit in first place in the league standings with a 10-2-2 record and 21 points. Already they have put an eight-spot on the Florida Panthers and seven goals on the Pittsburgh Penguins.

The 54 goals scored by Tampa Bay are the most in the league so teams come in to see a team in the Lightning that, if teams are not prepared to defend, can light up the scoreboard like a Christmas tree.

Twice in the past three games, the Lightning have looked out of sorts, the crisp execution the team had in the first three weeks of the season has been a little haggard. Both Anaheim and the New York Rangers have been able to execute a game plan against Tampa Bay to slow things down in the neutral zone, taking the Lightning out of their game.

Tampa Bay can expect more teams to follow that model until they can adjust to the adjustments made against them.

”There is a certain way that we want to play and standard,’’ defenseman Braydon Coburn said. “As much as we want to create as much offense as we can and generate scoring chances, there is a certain way we have to play if we want to have success against the league and that’s to play strong defensively. It’s still early in the season, we are learning about what we’re going to need to do win all types of games against all types of team.

“You look at the Anaheim game, it’s a different scenario than the Panther game, then you have the Rangers come in and they a bring a different dynamic than the three games we had. Now we have Columbus coming in, so if you look at the teams they are very different in their style. So we have to make sure the way we are going to play is going to be able to beat all these teams. That means create scoring chances but also being very responsible defensively. There are things that as a team we can control, the little areas that we have to make sure that as the season goes along here that our attention shifts to being able to win these games.’’

But make no mistake, the Lightning have the attention of other teams before the puck is even dropped. Columbus, which beat Florida 7-3 on Thursday, knows what they are up against in facing the Lightning, which has already defeated the Blue Jackets this season.

”I think we are going to have a team (Saturday) that is going to defend a hell of a lot harder (than Florida),’’ Tortorella said. “I’m anxious to see how we play and that’s being negative on Florida, but Tampa is a better team, they have a better backend and they defend better and we are going to have our hands full.’’

Tampa Bay is already trying to reset things.

”We had a short meeting today, just a few clips (from Thursday’s game), maybe just some reminders to bring to the forefront some things that maybe we need to fix,’’ Richards said. “And I thought we had a great practice, the guys had a really good focus and went out and executed the things that we talked about. The focus and the energy was there.

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