Well, all the fun is over. The Stadium Series Game. The Olympics. The glorious Olympic Break. Now it’s time to get back to the grind of making the playoffs and competing for the Stanley Cup. The good news is that, standings-wise, the Tampa Bay Lightning are in pretty good shape. The bad news is that they can’t seem to shake the injury bug.
As play is set to resume, the Lightning sit atop the Atlantic Division with 78 points, a six-point edge over second-place Montreal. More importantly, they have opened up a 9-point gap over the Boston Bruins, the team currently in the second Wild Card spot. Most projections have the Bolts with a 99% chance of making the post season at this point.
They have given themselves some wiggle room down the very compacted stretch over the final 27 games of the season. While they can’t exactly kick up the heels and hit the golf course instead of the practice rink, they won’t have to spend the next two months grinding out every point just to make the dance like Toronto or Florida.
What they need to do over the course of the regular season is fine-tune their game and continue to work on the aspects of play that will be successful in the playoffs. Solid defense, depth scoring, and a willingness to win puck battles in front of the net.
On the injury front, well, some things seem to be better, some don’t. It sounds like Charle-Edouard D’Astous and Emil Lilleberg are close to being ready to return when play resumes. Brayden Point is working towards returning for the Maple Leafs game on Wednesday as well. That’s the good news.
As for the rest of the line-up, well, it’s too be determined. Anthony Cirelli is skating, but in a non-contact jersey. Victor Hedman is dealing with a lower-body injury that ended his Olympics early. Max Crozier is out for ten weeks or so. Nick Paul is also dealing with an injury. So, yeah, there is still a crowd in the trainers’ room.
[Post-practice update: Hedman was a full participant and expects to be ready to go on Wednesday. Cirelli was working on the top power play unit. No Guentzel, Hagel, or Cernak (the three players who made it to the medal round)].
Getting amped up for a Wednesday game in February isn’t the easiest thing to do in a normal season, much less following an electric display of hockey that was the Olympics (say what you will about some of the issues they dealt with in terms of the rink and the participating countries, but the actual hockey played was a blast). This team has shown an ability to match the intensity needed for these types of situations, but it will be a nice test coming out of the gate.
Other Hockey News
Brothers Raddysh find strength in father’s resilience [The Athletic]
A nice reminder that the players we watch are also going through things off of the ice as well.
Top 10 NHL prospects dominating the AHL [Daily FaceOff]
Interesting that Dylan Duke gets an honorable mention, but they exclude Conor Geekie because of the 52 games he played for the Lightning last season. He’s still a prospect and still dominating, folks.
TRAAAAAAADDDDEEEEEE [Bleedin’ Blue]
The first deal out of the roster freeze is…well…a trade. The Blues and Islanders swapped AHL players Matt Luff and Julien Gauthier. Hey, not every deal has to be a roster breaker.
Las Vegas Motor Speedway interested in hosting outdoor game [Daily FaceOff]
An ice rink on the infield surrounded by RVs would be an interesting visual for sure, but the sightlines from the stands would be a bit awkward as the article points out.
Olympics: Standouts, disappointments [ESPN]
Erik Cernak gets a “standout” from The Worldwide Leader. An argument could have been made for Zemgus and Moser as well.
