Lightning Fire Away, Ends Losing Streak in Style

An obvious way for a hockey club to end a losing streak is to score goals, and a team can’t do that unless it fires away at the net with frequency.

The Tampa Bay Lightning did that in exemplary fashion on Saturday in a 6-2 win at Boston. Now, it remains to be seen if the team has woken from a brief slumber of late, or was Saturday’s historic performance a blip?

“It had to happen,” veteran Lightning coach Jon Cooper said in a postgame press conference of his team’s offensive aggressiveness. 

Cooper later referred to his team as “playing desperate,” which is a tad hyperbolic, but his point was well taken. 

Tampa Bay isn’t really in danger of missing out on the postseason at this point, but by playing poorly (in multiple facets) in losing three consecutive games, Cooper’s team did itself no favors in positioning itself for the playoffs. 

“We played desperate,” Cooper said. “We played a smart (type of) desperate.”

Tampa Bay is going to have to maintain that mentality for the next week because it is going to embark on the most challenging part of the team’s remaining schedule on Thursday. 

Following a game at Amalie Arena tonight (7 p.m.) against Philadelphia (28-32-8, 64 points), Tampa Bay (38-23-5, 81 points) will visit Dallas (Thursday, 8 p.m.), Utah (Saturday, 5 p.m.), and Vegas (Sunday, 8 p.m.). 

The Lightning are tied for second place in the Atlantic Division with Toronto (39-24-3, 81 points) and trail Division-leading Florida (41-24-3, 85 points). A second- or third-place finish ensures that Tampa Bay will not face one of the two wild card teams (currently Ottawa and the New York Rangers) in the opening round of the playoffs. Instead, the second- and third-place teams face each other. While no match-up in the postseason is easy, facing the Senators (currently 36-25-5, 77 points) or Rangers (33-28-6, 72 points) is more appealing than the Maple Leafs or the defending Stanley Cup champion Panthers. 

“We needed this one,” Cooper said of a victory to snap his team’s skid, “and the guys pulled through.”

The Lightning have averaged 28 shots per game this season but managed to put 40 of those toward the net against the Bruins (30-30-8, 68 points), who had split their previous four matches. 

How dominant was Tampa Bay’s offensive – and defensive – onslaught? 

In the second period, Tampa Bay outshot Boston 20-0 and ultimately won the shot battle 40-12. 

It was the first time in nearly 25 years (December 2000 against Detroit) that the Lightning held a team shotless for an entire regulation period.

“Nothing phased us,” Cooper said. “We were doing all of the right things. We were managing the puck better than we did (on March 8) against these guys.”

In the past four games, three of which were defeats, Tampa Bay never registered more than 26 shots. That anemic production reached a low point in a 4-3 shootout loss to the Flyers in Philadelphia on Thursday, where Cooper’s guys attempted just 20 shots. 

“If you (shoot a lot),” Cooper said, “you’re giving yourself a chance to win and not shoot yourself in the foot.”

Tampa Bay has an opportunity to pull itself to within two points of the Panthers tonight, who allowed four third-period goals in a 4-2 loss at the New York Islanders on Sunday.

The Lightning also have an opportunity to catch their three road opponents, each of whom is mired in some downward momentum. 

The Stars (42-21-3, 87 points) and Golden Knights (39-20-8, 86 points) each have lost consecutive games while Utah (30-26-11, 71 points) has dropped three of its last five games. 

Dallas fell in Colorado on Sunday 4-3 in overtime while Vegas got blanked 3-0 by Detroit.

To find a potion to cure Tampa Bay’s offensive malaise of late, Cooper altered his lines, as he has been known to do throughout his tenure with the club. 

He opened the game in Boston with a second line of Nikita Kucherov (right wing) and Brandon Hagel (left wing) around Anthony Cirelli (center) while Yanni Gourde (right wing), Jake Guentzel (left wing) worked with Brayden Point (center) on the top line. 

Newcomer Oliver Bjorkstrand moved from the right wing slot which he has played recently to the left side of the third line, and Cooper paired with Nick Paul (center) and Gage Goncalves (right wing). 

The adjustments worked magnificently, if for no other reasons than the Lightning players worked, period. 

“It was a good job by the boys tonight,” Cooper concluded.