The Lightning head back to Madison Square Garden on Tuesday riding a four-game winning streak, and the early-season bounce has put them in a much better place than they were after opening night.
Tampa Bay dropped its first game, then answered with four straight wins to get to 4-1-0 through five games. That puts the Lightning in a three-way tie for first by points with the Ottawa Senators and Boston Bruins, with a game in hand on Boston.
Head coach Jon Cooper didn’t try to oversell what happened in Game 1, but he did acknowledge that the loss may have served a purpose.
"You don't want to sit and say Game 1 of 84,” head coach Jon Cooper said via the Tampa Bay Times. “The season hinges on that.
But you look back now, I'm maybe not as upset otherwise that it happened. What I like is that the team has responded, and that's a good sign."
Now the test is whether that response carries over against the Rangers. The Lightning already picked up a win in Nassau County against the Islanders, a team they struggled with last season, and that result should give them a little more confidence heading into the rematch at the Garden.
Special teams remain a work in progress, even with signs of progress. Tampa Bay has scored a power-play goal in each of its last two games, going 2-for-7 overall in that stretch for 28.5%.
There’s still work being done there, though. Practice reports indicated the top power-play group stayed intact, while Eduardo Encina of the Tampa Bay Times noted that Brayden Point and Jake Guentzel have switched spots, with Guentzel getting more action at the bumper.
That kind of adjustment fits the expectations around this group. The Lightning are supposed to have one of the league’s best power plays, and they’ve started to inch toward that standard.
The penalty kill, meanwhile, is still not where it needs to be. Tampa Bay’s PK sits at 72.7%, which ranks 25th in the NHL, and over the last two games it has been at 50% after allowing two goals on four chances.
In Other News...
Lightning Fans Have 30 Years Of Memories Tied To This Arena
For three decades now, the building in downtown Tampa that most fans still think of as the home of the Lightning has been part arena, part civic landmark and part memory bank. Since opening as the Ice Palace and later taking on different names, it has hosted everything from college championships and the 1999 NHL All-Star Game to the Arena Football Leagues Storm, the Raptors temporary NBA home and a long list of concerts and pop culture moments that helped make it more than just a hockey rink.
What gives the place its staying power, though, is the way it has tracked with the franchises rise, from the earliest seasons to the nights when the stakes felt biggest. It has seen a first-round of defining sports moments for the city and a few surreal non-hockey scenes along the way, which is why every new chapter there tends to carry a little extra history with it. [Read more 🡒]
Ottawa Prospect Watch Centers On One Encouraging Early Syracuse Trend
The Syracuse Crunch have opened the season at 1-3-0, and while that kind of start is not exactly what anyone around Tampa Bay wants to see from the Lightnings top affiliate, there have been a few early signs worth tracking. Jakob Pelletier, who led the AHL in points last season, has already chipped in with assists, giving Syracuse at least one established offensive piece to lean on as it tries to settle in after a recent 3-2 loss to Belleville.
Another encouraging development is in net, where Mads Sogaard has looked more promising than Olivier Rodrigue through the first stretch of the schedule. For a team still sorting itself out, that kind of early goaltending stability matters, especially with Dominic James also working his way back from a broken hand after being sent to the AHL for conditioning. The Crunch still have plenty to clean up, but there is enough here to keep an eye on how the lineup and crease evolve over the next few games. [Read more 🡒]
Lightning Saw The Islanders Edge Theyve Been Missing
The Islanders were forced to chase the game early against Tampa Bay, but the response came in the form of the kind of edge they have been trying to find. After head coach Peter DeBoer made adjustments, New York leaned harder on its forecheck and physical play, with defenseman Logan Stanley right in the middle of the shift. Signed just before the season, Stanley kept his presence felt with four assists and a steady dose of contact that helped change the tone.
His impact was not limited to the scoresheet, either. The Islanders started hitting more often and more aggressively, with several players piling up multiple hits as the game wore on and the tempo got nastier. For a team trying to establish a harder identity against a division opponent, Stanley's blend of offense and heaviness gave them a spark they had been missing. [Read more 🡒]