The Tampa Bay Lightning are taking a three-game winning streak into a two-stop trip through New York, with the Islanders waiting Saturday and the Rangers again on Tuesday.
That’s enough to make this a useful early test. Tampa Bay has already been knocked around at Madison Square Garden once this season, and now it gets a quick chance to answer back. The Lightning have steadied themselves since that loss, but they’ve done it at Benchmark International Arena, where winning in the regular season is rarely the issue.
The bigger question is whether that same comfort travels.
A strong showing against these two teams would say plenty about where Tampa Bay stands right now. A split would be fine. A road sweep would send a much louder message.
The Rangers are also dealing with a major concern after Igor Shesterkin went down with what appears to be a major injury. That changes the feel of Tuesday’s game, because however the Rangers line up in front of him, the matchup usually runs through their goalie.
The Islanders bring their own challenge, especially at home. They’ve scored 10 goals in two home games while managing just three goals in two road games.
Defensively, they’ve allowed one goal at home and seven on the road. Ilya Sorokin has also started fast, so Tampa Bay will need to be sharp right away.
Another thing worth watching is whether the power play keeps moving in the right direction.
The Lightning have already tweaked the unit, including using two defensemen on the top group, and it paid off in Thursday’s 3-2 win over the Minnesota Wild. John Carlson scored the power-play goal that ended up deciding the game. That was a welcome sign, because the Lightning have only one goal on the man advantage so far this season.
If that part of the game keeps clicking, it could go a long way toward helping them handle the New York stretch.
There’s also a smaller but interesting subplot on the blue line: Victor Hedman, Ryan McDonagh, and JJ Moser have all played in the first four games and still haven’t recorded a point.
That’s not a crisis. All three are doing their jobs defensively, and none of them are expected to pile up points just for the sake of it. But it does set up a simple question heading into the trip: which one breaks through first, and will it come as a goal or an assist?
Hedman stands out most there. He had only one goal in 33 games last season, after averaging 12 per season before that. Given everything he has dealt with, a first goal this season would carry a little extra weight.
In Other News...
Lightning Just Sent Dominic James On An Important Next Step
The Lightning have sent forward Dominic James to the Syracuse Crunch, giving him the next step in his return from a lost start to the season. James has previous experience with Tampa Bays AHL affiliate, and the move is designed to get him back into game action after a stretch away from competition.
James has not appeared for the Lightning this season after sustaining a hand fracture during offseason training, so the emphasis now shifts from recovery to repetition. Because he is exempt from waivers, Tampa Bay can manage the assignment more easily while the organization works to help him rebuild his form with the Crunch. [Read more 🡒]
Lightning Newcomers Are Already Changing What This Team Can Be
The Lightnings early-season win streak kept rolling with a 3-2 victory over the Minnesota Wild, and it came with a couple of signs that this group may already be evolving in real time. Tampa Bay has been looking for cleaner special-teams production, and the kind of boost it got in this one suggested there may be more balance to come as the roster settles into its rhythm.
John Carlson and Dennis Hildeby both fit into that picture in different ways. Carlson gave the Lightning an important lift on the power play, while Hildeby steadied things in his first game with Tampa Bay with 34 saves, the sort of debut that can buy a team time when the schedule is moving fast. With injuries stacking up around the league and scoring trending upward in the seasons opening stretch, the Lightning are already learning what their newest pieces can add. [Read more 🡒]
Stars Close The Book On A Recent Roster Move With Dumba Done
The recent chapter involving Mathew Dumba has come to an end, with the veteran defensemans time around the league now turning into a career retrospective. Drafted seventh overall by Minnesota in 2012, Dumba logged 13 NHL seasons across Minnesota, Arizona, Tampa Bay, Dallas and Pittsburgh, building a rsum that included 85 goals and 261 points in 748 games. For Lightning fans, he was one of the more notable deadline additions in a stretch where Tampa Bay was still trying to balance present-day depth with longer-term uncertainty on the blue line.
Dumbas path through the league wound through several contenders and rebuilds, and his brief stop in Tampa Bay fit the kind of all-in roster churn that often defines the trade deadline. The move gave the Lightning a veteran option for the stretch run, even if his time in Tampa was part of a much larger career that has now been formally closed by the NHLPA confirmation of his retirement. [Read more 🡒]