The Lightning head into Thursday night’s opener at Madison Square Garden with a familiar standard hanging over them and a less familiar vibe around the league.
This team isn’t the center of the preseason conversation. The buzz elsewhere has been louder, with plenty of attention going toward a Panthers rebound and talk that the Avalanche could get back to the level that carried them to the 2022 title over Tampa Bay. But inside the Lightning room, the message is unchanged: four straight first-round exits is the wrong kind of history, and this group believes it has enough to move past it.
There’s reason for that confidence. Much of the core is back, and the final roster decisions were made tougher by the number of useful pieces the Lightning had to sort through.
They also came through the preseason healthy, with only centers Yanni Gourde and Dominic James starting the season on IR. That allowed them to preserve organizational depth as they turn the page to a new 84-game schedule.
The shortened camp meant less time to get everything locked in, especially with an Atlantic Division that could be the most competitive in years. Still, many of the players had already been skating together informally at the team facility in Brandon since mid-August, giving them a head start before the official work began.
“What you need in a shorter camp is to have good pace when you’re on the ice and take care of your body off the ice and be in the gym a lot,” captain Victor Hedman said. “Guys come back early, and we’ve been pushing each other. So it’s a good sign for us.”
Hedman said the talent in the room is there, but the Lightning know that talent only matters if it’s paired with the right habits.
“We’ve got all the talent in the room,” Hedman added. “Our work ethic is super high, so that’s all we can control, too, going into the game (Thursday) is our work ethic and our preparation, and everything’s going to take care of itself.”
Anthony Cirelli framed the opener the way players usually do: important, but only one night in a long chase.
“We believe here that we have a really good team, so it’s for us to go out there and prove that,” forward Anthony Cirelli said. “Obviously, goal No. 1 is to get into the playoffs. We have 84 games to do that.”
Coach Jon Cooper, meanwhile, said his main concern isn’t the calendar or the condensed ramp-up as much as the basics that can sink a game before structure ever becomes a factor.
“I’m worried about a lot of things that I’m sure tons of teams worry about: odd-man rushes against, and turnovers at bad times, and decision-making and stuff like that,” Cooper said. “Structure stuff, that’ll come. In 84 games, we’ll have that dialed in soon enough.”
The Lightning also walk into a Rangers opener that has already been tested. New York played its first game Tuesday, losing 3-0 to Boston after the teams were scoreless for most of the night, and Cooper said that can offer a small edge.
“I think that works a little in their favor,” he said. “So we need to be prepared for that because I’m sure they’re ironing out things that they need to. … One of the biggest days of the year is opening night, regardless where you are.”
Cooper said the anticipation is part of what makes this night matter, but he also knows how quickly it turns once the puck drops.
“There is a lot of anticipation though, but also you want to get going because you want to make sure that you haven’t missed anything, that you’ve crossed the T’s, dotted the I’s, all those things,” Cooper added. “And I think once you hear the anthem of the first game and you start, it’s like, ‘OK, we’re finally here.’ But we’re in a good spot.”
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