The new season is underway with a win for the Tampa Bay Lightning and now they have a couple of days to digest the victory and prepare for their upcoming road trip. A really, really good start was almost tripped up by some of the issues that plagued them last year, but a strong special teams unit and timely goaltending bailed them out in the end as they sent the crowd home happy with a 5-3 win. Let’s take a look at some things that stood out in the games.
Goaltending
All eyes were on Jonas Johansson as he started in net for the injured Andrei Vasilevskiy. Then, for just about the entire first period he was largely ignored as almost all of the action took place in the Nashville end. The Predators managed just 7 total shot attempts in the first 20 minutes with only two of them finding their way on net. Not a bad way to start for an unknown commodity in net.
As the game wore on Nashville was able to garner a lot more offensive zone time and combined for 58 shot attempts, 29 of which were on net. Johansson turned aside 26 of those to finish with 28 saves on 31 shots and a respectable 1.23 GSAx.
The first two goals he allowed would have required some above average saves as he defense betrayed him a bit. Ryan O’Reilly’s was essentially a tap-in on a two-on-one after the Bolts were caught down low in the offensive zone and Jusso Parssinen was able to tuck one through the five-hole after a shambolic start to the third period by the Lightning skaters on the ice.
Johansson would want the third goal back. On a Preds power play in the third period, the goalie got caught leaning to his left causing a little separation from his body and the near post which Tommy Novack was able to wrist a puck through to tie the game at three a piece. If Johansson had a do-over, chances are he either tries to look around the screen in front of him in the opposite direction or makes sure to stay tighter to the post.
In short, Johansson was really good if not spectacular and he made key saves when the Lightning needed him to in order to secure the win. If he can continue to do this, the Bolts should be okay.
“Everything that was bad about our game showed up in one period.”
Those were Coach Cooper’s words about the second period. For whatever reason, the middle frame has been an issue for the Bolts. Last year they were outscored 91-87, the only period where they had a negative goal differential. Turnovers, odd-man rushes, lack of sustained offensive pressure were all a part of the second period last night that could have cost them the game.
It was doubly disappointing considering how absolutely dominating they were in the first period. The momentum carried into the start of the second, but a couple of penalties seemed to slow them down and they chased the game for a bit.
That dip you see from the 30 minute mark of the game, well, it cratered like that not only because the Predators were generating offense, but because the Lightning’s absolutely vanished. Darren Raddysh had a shot on goal at the 14:48 mark of the second period. Juuse Saros wouldn’t have to make another save until Steven Stamkos, on the power play, put one on net at the 18:02 point of the third period. That’s more than 15 minutes of game action without a shot that counted.
The Lightning (who started the period with a power play) as a whole only had 13 shot attempts the entire middle frame. It wasn’t great, and they are probably lucky to have emerged out of that period tied at one.
The Bounce Back
Tied heading into the third after one good period and one bad period, they still had a chance to get things going. Then 11 seconds into the period they were down a goal. It was a bit unfortunate as the whole things started when Nick Perbix slipped while trying to pass the puck. That led to a turnover and a goal. Not great, but the Lightning didn’t let it spiral.
New guy, Waltteri Merela, who looked like he might be around to stay, drew an interference penalty on Roman Josi. The power play went to work and converted to tie the game back up. Then Brandon Hagel was hauled down by old friend Luke Schenn and was able to convert the penalty shot for the lead.
From that point on, the Bolts settled back into their game a little. Yes, a power play goal from Nashville after a bad penalty by Nikita Kucherov tied things back up, but the first unit came back to give them the lead.
The power play is one of the team’s strengths this year and they had to lean on it a bit last night. Still, they earned those penalties by forcing Nashville to make mistakes. If the Bolts are drawing penalties, that means they are doing things right and outworking their opponents. That’s a good sign.
All too often last year it seemed the Lightning would give up goals in bunches. Their game would break down for a five or ten-minute stretch and the next thing they knew, they’d have given up two or three goals. That didn’t happen last night. Yes, they had a bad stretch, but they were able to overcome it and bounce back.
The Second Line
While the top line of Steven Stamkos, Brayden Point, and Nikita Kucherov provided the most excitement (for both sides on the ice) it was the second line with Brandon Hagel, Anthony Cirelli and the combination of Tyler Motte and Conor Sheary that was the best line for the Bolts last night. Sheary stepped up after Motte left the game in the second period with a hand injury and they didn’t miss a beat.
If you add the ice time of those two versions of the line together they posted a line of 75% of the shot attempts, 66% of the shots on goal, and 75% of the scoring chances while they were on the ice. Most of their 5v5 ice time was against the Ryan O’Reilly line so to be able to control the play of ice against an opponent’s top line is a good sign that they are doing their job. If Coach Cooper is able to run them out against the other team’s big guns, it should free him up to let the top line do their job.
Final thoughts
It was a good win for the Bolts. Not perfect by any means, and some things that bothered them last year still seem to be in their game, but for the most part it was a good start to the season. Everyone on the team pitched in and there weren’t any invisible players out there. When they needed it, the big guys provided the offense as Point had three assists and Nikita Kucherov scored twice. The role players did well and the goaltending was exactly why they needed. Hopefully, they can play with the same energy for the next 81 games and find themselves back in the playoff picture.
