“We’ve lost that little fire,” Tampa Bay Lightning face first rough patch of the season

by Erik Erlendsson | @Erik_Erlendsson | Like us on Facebook
December 1, 2017

BRANDON – Taking a quick glimpse at Lightning practice on Friday provided the appearance that it was an optional skate.

To the contrary, everybody that was able to practice was on the ice. It was just that thin on healthy and available bodies.

Nothing like a little adversity to get the juices flowing again

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For the first time this season the Lightning have been bitten by the injury bug. And it comes at a time the team is going through the first rough patch on the ice with just two wins in the past six games. And all that offense that seemed to come so easy in the first quarter of the season? Yup, it’s dried up as well of late as Tampa Bay has been held to two or fewer goals in four consecutive games.

”Things are not going to go exactly how you want them to for 82 games, so it’s no surprise,’’ Lightning captain Steven Stamkos said. “You are going to go through stuff like this, it happens every year, individually and as a team. The good teams just find a way to limit those and we’ll look to get back on track here.’’

The Lightning’s game has gotten away from them recently. The aggressiveness has been tamed. The high-tempo has been slowed. The crisp passing has become soggy. The blazing team speed has snuffed out.

”It’s tough in this league and when you start the way we did as a team there is no question that teams get to play you and get excited for the challenge and we just have to find that way to spark ourselves in the room,’’ Stamkos said. “We are not sitting inside this room before games patting each other on the back and sitting in a circle telling each how good we are because of where we are in the standings. A lot of that is outside noise. And there has been a lot of talk about our team, in a positive way because of the way we started, but it means nothing right now.

“We have to get back that hunger we had at the beginning of the year with the way we were playing because we didn’t make the playoffs last year, because we had something to prove. It just seems we’ve lost that little fire we had at the beginning of the year because we started so well and now we are expecting things instead of earning them. We need to get back to that mentality and then you play from there, then things start coming again and then you start getting back on a roll.’’

Even in the two victories that have happened during the six-game stretch, the trademark identity from the first two months showed cracks.

”The first period against Chicago. The first period of the Islanders game. You got start looking at things leading up to what happened to us on this road trip,” head coach Jon Cooper said following practice on Friday. “You never want to be unhappy with a win but we walked out of the Buffalo game (a 2-0 victory) and we weren’t even trilled with the way we were playing, so probably bound to happen to us.’’

Tampa Bay may be faced to snap out of the doldrums with a few players out of the lineup.

Defenseman Jake Dotchin will miss his fifth consecutive with an undisclosed injury after missing practice once again on Friday, though Cooper said Dothchin has been doing some light skating on his own and could return by next week some time.

Center Cedric Paquette will also miss Saturday’s game against San Jose while serving his one-game suspension handed down on Thursday for a boarding call against Boston’s Torey Krug during Wednesday’s game.

But also missing from practice on Friday were forward Ryan Callahan and defenseman Braydon Coburn.

Callahan missed a game on Nov. 9 with a lower body injury, though there was no update as to whether his absence was related to that situation.

Coburn, meanwhile, took a knee-on-knee hit from Boston’s David Backes during Wednesday’s game, though he was able to finish the game. Coburn was seen around the Ice Sports Forum following practice without a discernable limp.

With the uncertainty about who might be able to play on Saturday, the Lightning called up forward Cory Conacher from Syracuse of the American Hockey League, while center Chris DiDomenico, acquired on waivers last week from Ottawa, was placed on waivers for the purpose of assigning him to Syracuse. The team will find out at noon on Saturday if he clears.

But dealing with injuries, well, that was as inevitable as hitting a rough spot in the season. Now they just happen to be overlapping.

”There is definitely some maintenance issues going on,’’ Cooper said. “Hopefully it’s not long term. We’ve been pretty blessed without going through (injuries) the first 20 games or so, but it’s going to happen, it happens to every team and you just try to manage it and hopefully it doesn’t keep compounding.

“We just can’t let it affect the way we play, we have to keep plugging forward.’’

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