Lightning Prove Playoff Readiness in Gritty Win Over Dallas
As impressive as Tampa Bay was at both ends of the ice in a recent 6-2 win at Boston, it was even more so in a 3-2 shootout victory at Dallas on Thursday.
“It was intense,” veteran Lightning center Anthony Cirelli said in a postgame interview with the media. “It was two really good teams going at it.
“It felt like a playoff atmosphere out there.”
That is what separated the win against the Bruins, who currently are out of a postseason position.
It’s one thing to beat Boston (30-31-9, 69 points), it is a whole other matter to get past the Stars (43-21-4, 90 points), particularly on the road.
Beating Boston (30-31-9, 69 points) is one thing. Taking down Dallas (43-21-4, 90 points) on the road is another entirely.
Dallas had won eight consecutive games at American Airlines Center prior to the loss.
The victory signaled to Lightning fans that this team is capable of playing with any other in the National Hockey League when it executes to its ability.
“I’m proud of the guys,” veteran Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper told the media following the win. “They stuck with it.”
Tampa Bay is one month out of having to play every game with that mentality, and there is positive and negative news in contemplating this team’s potential in the playoffs.
First, the positive.
The Lightning demonstrated on Thursday that it can defend an incredibly talented offensive team for the better part of 60 minutes without having to rely so heavily on the wonderous play of Andrei Vasilevskiy in net.
Dallas has four players (Jason Robertson, Matt Duchene, Wyatt Johnston, and Roope Hintz) with at least 25 goals, yet Tampa Bay limited the Stars to a mere 24 shots on goal.
The Lightning also killed a penalty and managed to tie Dallas in faceoff wins, a statistic that will be of the utmost importance in the postseason.
“(The players) stayed the course,” Cooper continued, “and they deserved the two points that we got.”
The victory evened Tampa Bay’s season record against the current group of playoff teams. The Lightning are 18-18-1 against the group of teams which would advance to the postseason if the season ended today.
That may seem mediocre to some, but you only need to win a postseason series 4-3 to stay alive.
On an even brighter note, the Lightning are 6-2 against that top group since February 1 after being 12-16-1 through the first four months of play.
“The chemistry has grown since the season has gone on,” Cooper told the media recently. “You bring new guys (recent acquisitions Yanni Gourde and Oliver Bjorkstrand) and new (penalty kill) systems, it takes a little bit of time.
“I also think that we were unlucky in the first 30 games of the year. Pucks that were going in that usually don’t, were going in against us. But a big part of it is that guys have been together 65-66 games.”
Another positive is that of the remaining 14 games of the regular season, only four are against teams (Vegas, Ottawa, Toronto, and Florida) within that current playoff group.
The Vegas and Ottawa games are on the road while the Maple Leafs and Panthers will come to Amalie Arena in mid-April.
That brings us to the downside (relatively speaking) of this situation.
Unless the Lightning (40-23-5, 85 points) can overtake the Atlantic Division-leading Panthers (42-24-3, 87 points) and Maple Leafs (42-24-3, 87 points), they will more than likely face one of those teams, both of whom have held serve against Tampa Bay this season.
Florida, the defending Stanley Cup champion, has won two of three games with the Lightning and has the one remaining contest (April 15 at Amalie Arena). That game is the next-to-last regular season game for Tampa Bay, so it could have seismic implications in determining playoff seeding.
As for Toronto, it has dominated Tampa Bay this season by winning all three matchups.
The Maple Leafs will visit Tampa on April 9.
Even considering facing Ottawa, which holds the first wild card spot (most assuredly, Washington with 100 points today will play the second wild card holder), isn’t a gimme.
The Senators have won one of the three tests with Tampa Bay this season and will host the Lightning on April 3.
Tampa Bay will visit Utah (31-27-11, 73 points) today at 5 p.m.
The Utah Hockey Club is currently four points behind St. Louis (35-28-7, 77 points) for the second wild card position in the Western Conference.
The Lightning will close the three-game Western Conference road trip Sunday against the Golden Knights (40-20-8, 88 points) at 8 p.m.
“This is going to be a little bit of a trip,” Cooper said. “There are afternoon games, night games, and different time zones.
“There is a lot that is going to go into this trip.”
