Tampa Bay Lightning sitting in a good spot at quarter-mark, hungry for more

by Erik Erlendsson | @Erik_Erlendsson | Like us on Facebook
November 21, 2017

BRANDON – Tampa Bay enters Wednesday’s game against the Chicago Blackhawks having already hit the 20-game mark on the season.

That, of course, means the season is at the unofficial one-quarter mark. And at that mark, the Lightning are off to the best start in franchise history.

So before the puck drops on Game No. 21, let’s recap some of what happened in the opening (nearly) two months of the season.

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Tampa Bay is 15-3-2 through 20 games. The Lightning are the highest scoring team in the league and sit on top of the league standings with 32 points heading in to Tuesday’s game.

Just for comparison sake, the Lightning played the same number of games through this date a season ago and held a 12-7-1 record, five points behind the Montreal Canadiens for first place in the Atlantic Division standings. The goal differential this year is plus-28; last season it was plus-13. This year the Lightning have scored 80 goals and allowed 52; last year they scored 62 and allowed 49.

But perhaps the biggest difference between this point now compared to last season is Tampa Bay is healthy at the moment. By this point last season Steven Stamkos was out due to knee surgery and Ryan Callahan was in and out of the lineup. (I promise that as you read this, I was knocking on the wood next to my couch.)

So, to say that things went well in the first 20 games this season would be like saying the Empire State Building is tall.

”I guess if we were 20-0-0 we would feel a little better,’’ head coach Jon Cooper joked. “But if you look a this 20-game stretch we had and the position we’ve put ourselves in the standings, it’s all about accumulating points just to put yourself in position to make the playoffs. As we were front and center last year of seeing how hard it is to catch up even if you have a remarkable February, March and April, it’s tough to get in.

“You never want to slow down, but when you’ve banked these points, now teams are constantly having to chase you instead of you chase them. It’s a much more comforting spot to be in, but you still look and there’s a lot of mileage left, 60-plus games. As I said, you’ve got to keep munching points, but all in all, I’ve got to tip my hat to the guys. It’s been a great first quarter.’’

That’s another understatement at the end of that statement, but there is one thing to take out of what Cooper said, there is still a lot of season to go, even if Thanksgiving generally tends to bench mark for which teams make the playoffs and those who don’t. After all, the Lightning were one of those teams in a playoff position at this point last year and failed to make the postseason.

But he is what you have to really like about how the first quarter of the season went for the Lightning – there is no sense of accomplishment. Nobody is patting themselves on the back for a job well done. The hunger the team spoke about during training camp after missing the playoffs was not just talk. They’ve gone out and shown that it was not lip service. It figures to carry on for the foreseeable future.

”If you look at our record, you want take that in a heartbeat, no question and this is probably the best start I’ve had in my career in regards to a team, so definitely pleased with that,’’ captain Steven Stamkos said. “But the great thing with this group is, it’s one thing to say we are not satisfied, we are going to keep pushing, but there is that sense with the group that we have that we are a more veteran group now. We understand that this doesn’t really mean a thing, really. We are going to keep pushing toward playing better hockey as we progress throughout the season to the ultimate goal of getting to the playoffs.

“It’s been a great start, I think everyone has done a great job of preparing themselves for this season after what happened last year, coming in to training camp expectation levels were high in this room, we’ve met that through the first 20. Now we’ll look to stay consistent through the next segment.’’

The Lightning were pretty consistent through that first segment.

The power play is tops in the league, they have the top line in the league with Stamkos between Nikita Kucherov and Vladislav Namestnikov and a goaltender that is already in the Vezina Trophy conversation. And we haven’t seen the best out of Norris Trophy finalist from last year, Victor Hedman.

”With the way things went last year and the expectations we have in this group internally and the expectation we have externally, it was a big disappointment last year,’’ Stamkos said. “It started in training camp, we saw the intensity, we saw the work ethic, we saw the work put in, we saw the guys that we brought in. You don’t bring in those guys and expect them not to have the impact they have had and expect not to do well. You bring those guys in because they have experience and that winning pedigree. That’s what the expectation was. We’ve met that in the first 20 and we look for it to continue.’’

That process begins again on Wednesday with the Blackhawks in town.

Note: Jake Dotchin missed his second consecutive day of practice and Cooper said on Tuesday he was unsure of Dotchin’s status for Wednesday, other than to say he was day-to-day. Andrej Sustr took his spot in rotation with Hedman during practice. … Tyler Johnson returned to practice after missing on Monday and is expected to be fine against Chicago.

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