Monday Morning Faceoff: Should we be concerned with Tampa Bay Lightning loss or Tyler Johnson, and is player safety on the right path?

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

Welcome back to the Monday Morning Faceoff a weekly debate here on LightningInsider.com.

This weekly feature brings together Erik Erlendsson, creator of LightningInsider.com, and Greg Linnelli, who hosts Lightning Power Play Live weekdays from 6-7 p.m. or one hour prior to puck drop on game days on TBLPowerplay.com as well as intermission host during radio broadcasts. We will also like to bring in special guests on a regular basis to debate topical items surrounding the Tampa Bay Lightning and around the NHL as we exchange our thoughts in a back-and-forth exchange that will appear every Monday morning.

This week NHL.com Lightning correspondent Corey Long joins Erik and Greg to discuss if Saturday’s loss to the Islanders is cause for concern, if there is something wrong with Tyler Johnson and looking at the latest incident involving former Lightning defenseman Radko Gudas.

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Erik: Stop the presses!!!! The Lightning lost a game. It’s been rare this season, to be sure. The 5-3 loss to the Islanders on Saturday was the first for Tampa Bay in regulation since Oct. 28, a span of three weeks. I like how Jon Cooper handled things after the game, making reference to Forrest Gump and the Bumper Stick saying from the movie . . . you know **it happens! It’s a marathon, so these things are going to happen. And, as Cooper also mentioned, the team just looked off to start. When you see Nikita Kucherov try to make a move, only to leave the puck behind, you can see it’s going to be that kind of a night.

Should we have any concern about this team heading in to Wednesday against Chicago that there might be a repeat performance, or is there enough confidence that this team is mature enough to understand the situation and will be “on’’ against the Blackhawks?

Greg: There is no need to panic. Give the Islanders credit. They played well. They had the second best offense in the league heading into that game so they were more than capable of taking down the Bolts.

I think it was just a bad game. Nothing more nothing less. You’re not going to see too many games where Stamkos and Hedman have off nights. And through an 82 game season you’ll have off nights.

Corey: I agree. It was the old law of averages that is bound to come up over an 82 game season. The Lightning had a slow start and they seemed to be fighting the puck from the go. The top line had an off night. Vasilevskiy probably let in one or two that he normally stops. They were coming in on a five-game win streak and frankly the Islanders are playing darn good hockey right now too, having won three in a row and scoring five goals in all three.

I expect the Lightning to come out flying Wednesday against the Blackhawks. That team always seems to bring out something extra in the Lightning when they make that annual visit to Amalie.

Erik: I agree, I think this team is mature enough to come back and play the game the right way against Chicago. I don’t know that it automatically translates in to a victory, but it will be more in line with we expect to see out of this team.

But while we are on the topic of being concerned, what about Tyler Johnson. He just doesn’t look like a confident player right now, as Corey pointed out during Saturday’s game. He has four goals on the season, but three of those have come on special teams – two on the power play and one shorthanded. Johnson has nine points overall, but has just two assists in the past 10 games and has not scored a goal since Oct. 24 at Carolina. He has the worst plus/minus on the team, and I know that can be an arbitrary stat unless it stands out, and I think in this case, it stands out.

He’s been on a fractured line for most of the season, with Alex Killorn and a rotating right winger. But they tried to put him between Ryan Callahan and Chris Kunitz, which didn’t help, and you are not breaking up the first two lines.

What’s it take to get him going again?

Greg: You can’t touch the first two lines so he’s going to have to be better with who he’s playing with currently.

The interesting thing about Johnson is before the season started most thought he’d be on a second line. In fact, you could argue that he’s been replaced by Yanni Gourde. Had Johnson started the season on the second line maybe his production would be different.

You just have to keep playing him and hoping he finds his groove.

Corey: I don’t know what you can do other than hope he puts his head down and just grinds his way through this slump. At least you hope it’s a slump. The numbers have been on a relative decline and he’s been passed on the depth chart by Brayden Point and Yanni Gourde. You can’t break up that second line right now because they are extremely productive.

I was excited as the prospects of Johnson being a third-line forward because I felt like he could just play with speed and aggression and just attack the puck, attack the net and apply continuous offensive pressure on the opposing blue line. But it hasn’t happened.

Let’s hope it’s a slump and he can work out of it.

Erik: Someone who won’t have the chance to get in a slump for a while is former Lightning defenseman Radko Gudas, who was hit with a 10-game suspension for his tomahawk chop down on the neck of Winnipeg’s Mathieu Perreault. Gudas was upset that Perreault ripped off his helmet during a battle along the wall and took his frustration out in the wrong way. This marks yet another suspension for Gudas since he left the Lightning in a trade deadline deal with Philadelphia for Braydon Coburn in 2015.

Gudas has always been a player who skated a thin line, but he rarely crossed it while he was in Tampa. Since he’s moved to the Flyers, he seemingly finds himself in issues with the league on a consistent basis. This is now his third suspension in three years (not counting the near misses he’s had) which qualifies him as a repeat offender, which means he also takes a hefty hit in the wallet as this suspension will cost him over $408,000.

Personally, I’m glad to see the league come down hard on Gudas. New sheriff George Parros promised to be more stringent than his predecessors and this was a true test of that promise. Add in the two-game suspension handed to Nashville’s Austin Watson for a boarding call, and I hope this is a sign of things to come from the NHL Department of Player Safety. These type of hits have no place in the game and there is only one way to try and eradicate them and that’s come down with strict suspensions when players cross the line.

Am I alone in this thought process?

Greg: The league now has to be consistent with making this call. We’ve seen slashing penalties called throughout the first few weeks of the Nhl so it’s not like the league is incapable of policing the game themselves.

Especially with the concussion issue so prominent in other sports the NHL should be sensitive to infractions like the one committed by Gudas. Hit these guys in the pocket books and you’ll see them change their behavior.

Corey: You are definitely not alone in this thinking Erik. I love the physical game. I love hitting. I love a good, tight checking game. But using the stick as a weapon, like what Gudas did to Perreault, is borderline criminal and that’s what the game doesn’t need. Ten games sounds good but for something egregious like that I want to see an ever stiffer penalty. Maybe 25 games.

The scoring is up in the league. The artistry is back into hockey and I believe it will continue to bring more fans to the arena and watching the television sets and it will continue to attract new fans. The last thing the NHL needs is neanderthal behavior from its players.

Erik: Good, clean hits should be part of the game (though I’m not sure why players have to answer for them at the rate they do, but that’s a topic for another time) and let’s hope that remains. but plays with clear intent to injure need to be removed and there is only one way to send that message.

Thanks Corey for joining us and Greg let’s continue some of this discussion again, this week on Lightning Power Play Live for some Great Hockey Talk™as the Lightning prepare for another three-game week, starting Wednesday at home against Chicago before starting a four-game road trip with back-to-back games at Washington and Pittsburgh on Friday and Saturday, respectively.

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