Special Teams, Defensive Play Fueled Tampa Bay Lightning’s Strong First Half
by Tom Layberger · ForbesWhat might be one of the more eyebrow-raising statistical nuggets to emerge from the Tampa Bay Lightning’s first half is that they killed all 17 power play opportunities over a recent eight-game stretch. While that was a nice run of fine PK work, here is the kicker: the Bolts scored four – four! – shorthanded goals in that span.
True, Tampa Bay’s first four-game losing streak since the end of last season occurred within said eight-game run that wrapped around the calendar flipping to 2025. It was not necessarily because Jon Cooper’s team lacked attention to detail. Sometimes a tip of the helmet toward the opposition is warranted.
“We dropped those three games on the West Coast, but we did not play poorly and sometimes that happens,” said the tenth-year coach, referring to setbacks at San Jose, Los Angeles and Anaheim to commence the calendar year.
Cooper’s club hit the midway point stationed in third place in the Atlantic Division four points behind second place Florida and seven points behind pacesetting Toronto with three games in hand on both. Tampa Bay’s loss at Boston on Tuesday night to begin the second half, coupled with Florida’s win in Newark, put them six points behind the Panthers.
Special teams and defensive responsibility served as the bedrock to a 23-15-3 first half in the immediate post-Steven Stamkos era. The penalty kill was 11th in the NHL through the team’s first 41 games and produced eight shorthanded goals, which is second-most in the league. The powerplay was humming along at 25.8 percent, good for second in the circuit, and was also second on the road at an impressive 30.6.
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“You want your special teams to be momentum grabbers,” said Cooper. “It’s not always scoring, but how you are executing. If you are getting looks, momentum can swing in your favor. It’s the same with the PK. It sure can be a weapon and it can hopefully change the way an (opposing) powerplay thinks when you have guys that are a threat to score.”
Of course, such threats would matter little if the proper level of attention was not directed toward taking care of business where it needs to be taken care of most.
“We can go on the attack and catch odd-man looks at times,” said Ryan McDonagh, who recently recorded his 400th career point from the blue line. “We have a lot of speed and skill on all of our units. Good thing is we don’t force it. We don’t cheat for offense (when shorthanded) and we try to make sure we do the job of killing it first. If there is a chance, we will try to make something happen.”
Anthony Cirelli has made it happen. He has three shorthanded goals and linemate and fellow PK threat, Brandon Hagel, has a pair. Both have five shorthanded points.
“If we have a chance to go and create an opportunity for a goal or something, we are going to go,” said Cirelli, a plus-19 through Tuesday’s game, tops among Tampa Bay forwards. “In saying that, the first premise is to kill the penalty off and make sure we are not giving anything up.”
Powerplay, Defensive Detail Have Been Key
While the Lightning have not given up much as far as the opposing power play is concerned, there has been ample productivity with their own man-advantage opportunities. Brayden Point, who sat out Tuesday’s game after missing a team meeting, leads the NHL with 12 powerplay goals. Jake Guentzel, having a nice first season with the Lightning after signing a seven-year, $63-million deal last summer, is tied for third with nine.
Then there is Nikita Kucherov. The dazzling 31-year-old has only two power play goals, which might seem surprising given that he has recorded at least 13 on three occasions. What is not surprising is that No. 86 has often set up Point and Guentzel and has league-high 22 power play assists.
Regardless of the powerplay’s strength, or the offensive zone play overall, it all comes back to the goals against and the Bolts’ tidiness in their own end – and the play of goalies Andrei Vasilevskiy and Jonas Johansson when things are not so tidy. Without attention to such detail, the rest would not matter. To that extent, Tampa Bay has won 17 of 21 matches when it scores at least four goals. However, with consistently responsible defensive play, which underscores the type of game required come springtime, the Lightning should not have to find the net four times in order to win on a regular basis.
“You can’t go into these games always thinking you have to score four,” said Cooper, who noted how pleased he was with the defensive effort through the first half. “I am a big believer that three should be able to get it done. Sure, there are going to be high-scoring games and some games when maybe you are not going to score. For the big picture, it can’t be four (goals) especially if you are fortunate enough to make the playoffs because (those are going to be low-scoring games.) You have to play in tight situations and you have to be able to pull them out. The guys have done a good job of that so far.”