Welcome to this edition of the Tampa Bay Lightning’s Stock Up and Stock Down, a weekly column detailing the highs and lows of the team’s performance.
So much for the “pissed off” feeling reported to be a motivating factor going into the season.
The motivation stated by Mikhail Sergachev in a preseason interview did seem to carry into the regular season, as the Tampa Bay Lightning put up a solid effort in defeating the Nashville Predators in their season opener (Oct. 10) by a score of 5-3. However, that effort was followed by two less-than-ideal performances on the road, falling to the Detroit Red Wings 6-4 (Oct. 14) and the Ottawa Senators (Oct. 15) 5-2.
In his postgame press conference, head coach Jon Cooper noted that the Lightning made too many mistakes in their loss to the Red Wings. A quick look at the box score might reveal that goaltender Jonas Johansson struggled in that game. The reality was that four of the five goals scored were the direct results of poor play in front of him, which left him almost no chance to bail his team out in those situations.
Against the Senators, the Lightning got off to a slow start and were outshot 17-3 in the first period. While shots on goal are somewhat of a misleading stat, the Lightning were dominated in that period and were lucky to go into the first intermission trailing only by a goal. After the game, Cooper, to his credit, rarely, if ever, calls out his team in public. His comment on the first period was, “It was taxing on us in that first period.” True, it will be taxing if you are trying to compensate for mistakes and misplays, which is an observation from somebody who was sitting in the middle level of the Canadian Tire Centre.
Stock Down: Continuing Problems on the Road
The recent two losses were summed up best by Brandon Hagel after the Red Wings game: “Every goal we pretty well gave up tonight was a turnover. Just lack of effort defensively, I guess you could say.” What is even more puzzlingly is that the Lightning, who were reported to be very motivated coming into the season, would put up such efforts knowing that they had two inexperienced players in net. Both goaltenders played well. Johansson stopped 36 of the 41 shots he faced, while Tomkins stopped 33 out of 37 shots.
It must also be mentioned that the one exception to most of this poor play was the line of Anthony Cirelli, Tanner Jeannot, and Mikey Eyssimont, who accounted for four points in the Senators game. This kind of play needs to happen up and down the lineup, especially if Steven Stamkos, who sat out the Senators game due to a lower-body injury, has to miss more time. The Lightning needs to rebound quickly if they want to reverse the trend from last season that saw them post an 18-22-1 record on the road.
Stock Up: Nick Paul
The 28-year-old tallied a pair of power-play goals and added an assist in the win over the Predators. It is good to see him bounce back after he struggled to score at the end of last season. He was able to score 17 goals and 32 points in 80 games with the Lightning last season, and that output may improve if he continues to see time on the power play. He will be a key component if the Lightning hope to make up the production from the loss of power-play fixture Corey Perry.
Stock Up: Victor Hedman
It is good to see the well-rested and confident Victor Hedman producing the way he has in the past. After the Senators game, he currently leads all Lightning scorers with five points, scoring one goal with four assists. On Lightning media day, Hedman told reporters, “I’m turning 33 in December. I’m not in the beginning of my career, so you’ve got to take advantage of these opportunities when you get to play for this organization and play for this team.”
Hedman has returned to his role as the quarterback on the top power-play unit and will look to form a solid one-two punch for blue line production with Sergachev. The next task in his role of team leader is to help the rest of the defense and team avoid the turnovers and mistakes that have plagued them in their last two losses.
Stock Up: The Syracuse Crunch
The Lightning’s American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate started their season with two wins, defeating their rival, the Utica Comets, 4-3 in overtime (Oct. 13) before returning home to defeat the Bridgeport Islanders 4-2 in kicking off their 30th season (Oct. 14) as a franchise. As many of the Crunch players were in Lightning training camp, they also seemed to have benefitted from the focus and intensity that took place during that time. Hopefully, they can avoid the issues that have plagued the Lightning when they head on a two-game road trip on Oct. 20 and 21 to face the Cleveland Monsters.
Stock Up, Down, Up: Alex Barre-Boulet
This is more of a reflection of the transactions last week for the 26-year-old, as he was originally named to the opening night roster but was put on waivers shortly after and sent to the Crunch as the Lightning were making moves that would allow them to stay under the salary cap. However, he was called back up after the opening night game when Tyler Motte was injured. He made his season debut in the loss to the Senators, registering two shots with just over 10 minutes of ice time.
Related: Lightning Continue to Manage Tight Salary Cap
One of the other issues in losing to the Red Wings and the Senators is that the Lightning have let two teams that should be chasing them for a playoff spot to gain an early advantage in the standings. They will face another team that is likely also to pressure them for a playoff spot when they finish their road trip against the Buffalo Sabres on Tuesday, Oct. 17, before returning home on Thursday, Oct. 19, to face the Vancouver Canucks. They finish the week by hosting the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday, Oct. 21. The results of this week may go a long way in determining which direction the 2023-24 version of the Lightning is headed.
