After a surprising three-game win streak, the Tampa Bay Lightning dropped back-to-back losses to the Minnesota Wild and Winnipeg Jets on the highway over the weekend. Regardless of that they’re two of the NHL’s finest groups this season, they’ve set a benchmark of the place the Bolts have to be to compete for the Stanley Cup.
Associated: Wild Take Down Lightning 5-3 With Robust Third Interval
Whereas it’s nonetheless early within the season, the Lightning have had some positives and negatives over their first 12 video games. In any case, Tampa Bay was a giant query mark following all of the offseason adjustments. With that mentioned, right here’s a have a look at probably the most priceless takeaways from the previous two video games.
Lightning Teaching Workers Prioritizing Vasilevskiy’s Well being
Lightning followers could have been confused once they noticed Jonas Johansson earn the beginning job in opposition to the highest staff within the NHL on Sunday afternoon in Winnipeg. Nonetheless, it was a wise transfer by the teaching workers. Not like earlier seasons, Vasilevskiy wants a lighter workload, particularly given his age and harm from final season. Due to this fact, the staff turned to their 6-foot-5 backup to face the Jets.
Johansson surrendered 4 five-on-five targets on 27 photographs for a .852 save proportion (Sv%) through NaturalStatTrick. Moreover, he posted -1.98 targets saved above anticipated within the 7-4 loss. He allowed two high-danger targets, a medium-danger purpose, and a low-danger purpose. Whereas not his finest efficiency, it was good for Johansson to get a difficult sport. The beginning will increase his confidence and put together him in case of harm.
Nick Paul Struggling With out Brandon Hagel and Anthony Cirelli
Earlier than rookie Conor Geekie jumped right into a top-six function a number of video games in the past, the Lightning had Nick Paul play proper wing alongside Brandon Hagel and Anthony Cirelli. The road was very profitable at controlling puck possession at five-on-five and was one of the dominant traces within the NHL over the primary couple of video games of the season. Nonetheless, Paul was demoted again to a third-line heart function, the place his possession numbers at five-on-five are beginning to appear to be final season’s.
Over the two-game span in opposition to the Wild and Jets, Paul had an 18.58 on-ice anticipated targets for proportion share (xGF%) at five-on-five, ranked lowest on the roster. Moreover, his 33.62 on-ice photographs for proportion (SF%) ranked final on the staff. In different phrases, with Paul on the ice, the Lightning gave up two photographs for one they produced. As administration begins to consider in-season acquisitions, a third-line scoring ahead ought to be on the high of the listing for Tampa Bay.
Conor Geekie Incomes Jon Cooper’s Belief
Head Coach Jon Cooper hasn’t had a prized rookie like Geekie shortly. The Lightning have dealt a lot of their draft capital for deadline acquisitions lately. Nonetheless, the group bought its finest prospect in years within the Mikhail Sergachev commerce. Geekie is already in a second-line function with Hagel and Cirelli, and he’s been stellar.
Cooper’s belief within the rookie together with his defensive zone face-off deployment is spectacular. Geekie began 15.62% of his shifts within the defensive zone (DZ%) over the two-game weekend through EvolvingHockey. Moreover, he continues to create offense of managed zone entries within the microstats workbook. He seems to be like a future star for the blue and white.
Lightning’s Upcoming Schedule
The Lightning proceed their Central Division highway journey on Tuesday night time in opposition to the St. Louis Blues (Nov. 5). Then, following a house sport on Thursday night time in opposition to the Philadelphia Flyers (Nov. 7), the staff has per week off till their rematch with the Jets at Amalie Enviornment (Nov. 14). The Bolts will look to get again on monitor after a stable October. The brand new additions of Jake Guentzel and J.J. Moser have match superbly because the Lightning franchise transitions into a brand new period.
