The Tampa Bay Lightning are starting to find a groove after their sluggish start. They’ve rattled off three-straight wins to get back to hockey .500 and climb back up the standings a bit.
It’s the perfect time to rattle off three thoughts on the winning streak. Here’s what’s on the top of the mind coming off the win over the Nashville Predators Tuesday night.
1: Lightning Star Talent is (Finally) Leading the Charge
One of the biggest issues in the early going was that some key players on offense were looking out of character. In his first four games, Nikita Kucherov had just three points, two of which were goals. Brandon Hagel had one point in six games and no goals through his first six games.
Since then, both have been their usual selves. Kucherov has seven points in his last four games, including an overtime-winning goal, and has multi-point night in three of his last four games. Hagel has had three consecutive multi-point games, which snapped a five-game scoreless streak. One of those points was an assist on Kucherov’s aforementioned overtime winner.
They’ve had the benefit of the whole team contributing, but the cornerstone pieces are such for a reason. Without them, the team isn’t going anywhere. It’s not a coincidence that they got going and the wins followed.
2: It Would Be Wise to Keep Spacing Out Vasilevskiy’s Starts
Yes, he’s been playing a lot better. Yes, he needs the opportunities to shake the rust off from missing training camp. Both can be true, but they can also be beside the point.
Related: Lightning Extend Winning Streak with Take Down of Predators
Another health scare has already been had. There is a very easy way to avoid it again. The Lightning gave Andrei Vasilevskiy solid rest early last season. The payoff was that he finished in second place in the Vezina Trophy voting.
The more rest that the Lightning can give to their star goalie early on, the better. Contending for the Stanley Cup remains the goal, and he’s going to play every playoff game. Overplaying him early is only going to hinder it. Jonas Johansson is arguably looking the best he’s ever had between the pipes (.913 save percentage through three games). They should ride that for as long as they can.
Will Success Translate When Eastern Conference Play Resumes?
What does every opponent on the Lightning’s schedule from Oct. 23 to Nov. 8 have in common? They’re all Western Conference teams. They’re knocking out a massive chunk of that interconference slate early.
So far, they’re 3-1-0 since this part of the schedule got underway, while they’re 1-3-2 against the Eastern Conference so far. It’ll be some time before we know if these adjustments will make a difference when they’re back to playing their usual rivals.
The reality is that this version of the Lightning likely takes some of the contests they lost in the first six games of the season. The loss to the Blackhawks on Oct. 23 was part of their four-game losing streak, even if they’re a Western Conference team. It’s probably coincidental that the recent turnaround has come against specific teams.
However, because of the trend in the record, it’s something that at least needs to be discussed. If they stumble against the Washington Capitals, New York Rangers, and Florida Panthers in a few weeks, we’ll have a better answer. If they roll through them, then it’ll indicate that they’re indeed just playing better as a team. On the flip side, if they start to slide again before they even get to that point, that’ll also help with the answer.
It’s hard to evaluate performance in a small sample. Just over one-tenth of the season has actually been played. However, it’s been enough time to see examples of trends. We’ll see which version of the Lightning we get in the long run.
