3 takeaways from the Lightning’s first road trip of the season
BUFFALO, N.Y. — The Lightning ended their first road trip of the season with losses to all three Atlantic Division teams they faced. Universally, however, they believed they found their footing during Tuesday’s 3-2 overtime loss to the Sabres at KeyBank Center.
Salvaging a point meant a lot, because the Lightning felt they played well enough to win. They needed Brandon Hagel’s goal with seven seconds left in regulation to force overtime. Had that not happened, there would have been a less upbeat tone in the locker room afterward.
“One’s better than none, so I thought we played fine (Tuesday),” Hagel said. “I think we had the puck lots and did everything but get it past (Sabres goaltender Devon Levi) one more time in extra time. … A lot better, I thought. I thought even the last two periods the last game (Sunday in Ottawa) we did well and carried it into this game.”
The team needs to create its own swagger
The Lightning’s veteran core has seen everything, but it’s easy to forget that half of this team’s roster wasn’t around at the beginning of last season. So, it didn’t experience Tampa Bay’s fast starts in recent seasons. Add that the team’s biggest source of confidence, goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy, is recovering from back surgery, and this team definitely is starting over in terms of building swagger.
After looking frustrated while falling behind during back-toback losses Saturday in Detroit and Sunday in Ottawa, Tampa bay again trailed early in Buffalo. It’s interesting that Hagel, who wore an “A” on his jersey for the first time with captain Steven Stamkos out, was the player who led the Lightning back. Second-period line shakeups put Hagel and Anthony Cirelli together, and their dump-and-chase game set the tone for the team.
Also, placing Alex Barre-Boulet — who has admitted his confidence has wavered over the years as he’s been on and off Tampa Bay’s roster — on the top line with Brayden Point and Nikita Kucherov gave Barre-Boulet an opportunity and the belief that he belonged. Those things are important, and head coach Jon Cooper probably doesn’t get enough credit for pushing the right buttons at the right time when blending his lines.
Goaltending is not the problem
Timing is everything for a goaltender, and as Jonas Johansson returned to Buffalo — where the Sabres made him a third-round pick in 2014 before he fizzled out quickly on bad teams — it was a good reminder. Johansson never expected to shoulder the starting load when he signed with the Lightning in July, but he’s much more prepared for it now, three years after the Sabres traded him to the Colorado Avalanche.
Even on a better Lightning team, Johansson’s numbers (3.71 goals-against average, .893 save percentage) probably aren’t going to indicate how well he’s played. And he’s not going to bail his teammates out from turnovers and defensive lapses like Vasilevskiy has. But he’s kept Tampa Bay in games.
After falling behind 2-0 just 15 minutes into the Tuesday’s game, things could have unraveled for Johansson But he was calm and didn’t allow another goal for the remainder of regulation. Overall, he’s been a little unlucky, and he’s faced an onslaught of shot volume. “You can’t look at any of these games and say (the goaltenders) were the cause of what happened,” Cooper said.
Power play isn’t same without Stamkos
We don’t know how much time Steven Stamkos will miss with the lower-body injury he sustained against Detroit, but the Lightning need him back on the power play soon. True, there aren’t many man-advantage units that have as much star power as Tampa Bay’s, but Stamkos’ one-timer from the left circle is the No. 1 thing defenses have to focus on stopping. And because of that, it creates more space for the others.
Victor Hedman is great at drawing attention to himself and getting Stamkos open. The Lightning’s two-defenseman look on Tuesday didn’t do much — the power play was 0-for-4 — because Hedman and Mikhail Sergachev couldn’t draw out the penalty killers to give Point and Kucherov space.
One bright spot is that Point had his best game of the trip on Tuesday, and that should translate to the power play. When the Lightning were without Stamkos for most of the 2020 playoffs, the power play ran at a 22.7% success rate. If Stamkos misses more time, Tampa Bay will have to continue to dust off that film to see what worked back then.