A road trip they should enjoy
4-game West Coast swing set up nicely
TAMPA — The Lightning are by no means in a comfortable position in the playoff race, but as the team heads West for a four-game trip on which it should pile up points, it has built a bit of a lead on its competition.
Tampa Bay woke up Tuesday in Las Vegas in the first wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference, three points ahead of Washington, which is followed by five teams within seven points of the Capitals.
The Lightning are in a slightly better position than they were two weeks ago, but only in that the teams most closely pursuing them — the Capitals, Red Wings and Islanders — failed to take advantage of the games they had in hand.
Meanwhile, Tampa Bay had won three straight and four of its last five, capped by back-to-back wins last week over the East’s division leaders, the Rangers and Panthers.
Still, the Lightning have to make good on the games they should win.
“We have no choice,” captain Steven Stamkos said.
Can they continue to build road momentum?:
If you have any chance of going deep into the playoffs, you have to win on the road. And after struggling for most of the season, the Lightning have played well away from Amalie Arena of late. They have won five of their last six road games entering Tuesday, with four of those wins coming against teams in playoff contention.
“It’s just that time of the year, with the position that we’re in, we have to go, regardless of the situation, and collect points,” Stamkos said. “You may not be at your best every night, but you have to get points and that’s that’s the goal right now.”
A trip out West has its own challenges, none more important than getting used to the three-hour time change. The low point of the Lightning’s road schedule this season was a five-game swing through Western Canada in December in which Tampa Bay went 2-3-0. But they have played well against the Pacific Division, going 8-3-1, and they’ve beaten all four teams they face on this trip at home this season.
“We’ve had success at times, and other times we haven’t,” coach Jon Cooper said. “We’re not playing at altitude, which is a good thing. Those are always tougher ones to kind of navigate around. But it’s usually that first day or two when guys will be up at 5 or 6 in the morning because of the time change, but it’s usually we’ve had decent success out there, so hopefully we can do it again.”
Can they stay out of the box?:
During the past few years, the Lightning have been one of the most penalized teams in the league. This season, their penalties — especially the minor ones — are down as a whole. But lately, they’ve been giving opponents too many chances with the man-advantage.
That came to a head in Saturday’s win at Florida, as the Panthers had seven power plays and the Lightning were on the penalty kill for more than 11 minutes. It took away from the momentum Tampa Bay created in 5-on-5 play and limited the amount of time many of its top offensive players were on the ice. It also let the Panthers back into the game after the Lightning took an early four-goal lead.
“Some of them are just being on the right side so you don’t have to put a stick in or reach,” Stamkos said. “Or just the ticky-tacky ones that if you are in the right position or take an extra stride, then you probably avoid those situations. But that’s a way to bite yourself in the rear end is by taking too many penalties, and you’re not always going to get away with it like you did last game.”