According to Natural Stat Trick, the Tampa Bay Lightning used 14 line combinations in their 4-2 loss to the Ottawa Senators on Monday night. Granted one of them, Nick Paul – Luke Glendening – Mikey Eyssimont, only spent 19 seconds together, but the other 13 were together for at least a full shift at even strength. The Jon Cooper Blend-o-Matic 2024 was in full effect in an attempt to spark the team the team. It didn’t really help as Ottawa held off any of their attempted comebacks.
At practice the swizzling continued with Anthony Cirelli centering Steven Stamkos and Nikita Kucherov on the top line.
Mikey Eyssimont, who has been noticeable over their last few outings was on the second line with Brandon Hagel and Brayden Point, making a trio that could skate circles around opposing players.
Following the practice Coach Cooper told Erik Erlendsson, “Quite frankly I felt that [mixing the lines against Ottawa] worked pretty well until we gave up that third one. We kind of fought back a bit and then just kept giving them freebies again and it took some of the wind out of our sails”.
Even when teams are going well, you will see a coach flip around lines to prevent things from getting stale. In the past, one of the strengths of the Lightning roster was that players could move up and down the line-up and fit in with different teammates. For a team that is scuffling along like the Lightning are right now, changing things up could give them a fresh perspective on the ice and shake some of the cobwebs loose.
The nice thing about putting Cirelli on the top line is that it does give that line a little more help defensively. As prolific at scoring as Stammer and Kuch can be, they also have been known to give up quite a few chances as well. Cirelli also give them a player that is able to dig out rebounds and pucks in the corner to keep play alive in the offensive zone. He is no Brayden Point, but Cirelli’s nine even-strength goals is fifth on the team. With Kucherov feeding him the puck, he could bump that number up quickly.
As for the players that weren’t there, Victor Hedman had a maintenance day while Tanner Jeannot isn’t expected back for a few more days at least. The Bolts will practice again today and we’ll see if there are any more changes before they take on the Washington Capitals on Thursday.
Other Hockey News
Let’s talk about Conor [Raw Charge – subscription required]
It hasn’t been a great season for Conor Sheary (this comment was sponsored by Captain Morgan’s Capt. Obvious] but there is still time for him to turn it around.
Hagel pulls something out of Kucherov’s bag of tricks at practice [Lightning Insider]
MacKinnon or Kucherov? Analyzing two favorites for the Art Ross [Sportsnet]
Speed and power are MacKinnon’s attributes while Kucherov relies on incredible hockey vision and precision. With all that being said, don’t count out Connor McDavid. Despite missing a portion of the season he has 83 points, just 10 back of Kucherov.
Trade Watch 2024 [The Fourth Period]
They have the Lightning “reportedly linked” to nine of the 35 players listed. Ah, the joys of having cap space at the trade deadline, they can be included in any rumor regarding a pending unrestricted free agent.
Noah Hanifin’s Market [Daily FaceOff]
Speaking of trade rumors, here we have a member of the “mainstream media” linking the Lightning to Noah Hanfin while also admitting the Lightning don’t have the assets to trade for him. Cool!
Red Wings sign Michael Rasmussen [Winging it in Motown]
Rasmussen isn’t going to be on the trading block as the Red Wings extend him for four years with an AAV of $3.2 million. The photo used by the Red Wings to announce the trade on Twitter has me wondering when Steve Yzerman turned into a junior high science teacher.
Boston College tops college rankings [USCHO]
Eamon Powell and his teammates took all 50 first-place votes in this week’s rankings.
Leonard dominates and Powell paces the blue line [BC Interruption]
Speaking of Powell, the defenseman is heating up with 14 points in his last 8 games.
Commissioner Bettman affirms 5-game suspension for Morgan Rielly [NHL.com]
In his explanation of the ruling, Commissioner (and Hall of Famer) Bettman basically said that Rielly had a chance to not be an idiot but chose to be one. Heck, he even said it would have been okay if he had punched Ridly Greig instead of crosschecking him in the head. Seriously, he really wrote that. “As noted in the suspension video, Mr. Rielly pursued Mr. Greig for some time and had sufficient opportunity to engage him in a different manner, e.g., with a push or a shove or even dropping his gloves to fight.”
