After starting the season with a 6-1-0 record, the Tampa Bay Lightning are 3-10-1 in their last 14 games. For a team that prides itself as one that should be competing for the Southeast Division crown, that’s simply not good enough. To go even further, that record could be described as embarrassing. With the parity in today’s National Hockey League, there is no excuse for a team that boasts Steven Stamkos, Martin St. Louis, and many other stars to be struggling so mightily.

With all that said, it comes as no surprise that voices around Bolts Nation have been calling for immediate, and significant change. In recent days, those in the Twitter-sphere have been treated to “tweets” that suggest Lightning General Manager Steve Yzerman should fire Guy Boucher, or trade Vincent Lecavalier, or show interest in Roberto Luongo. For many fans, and media personalities, it’s abundantly apparent that the panic button has been pressed.

For teams in the National Hockey League, change is a funny word. It’s often thrown out there as a potentially easy solution for trials and tribulations. However, if you actually stop to think about what change would mean for this Lightning group, it becomes incredibly obvious that the best course of action for Steve Yzerman and company is to stay the course, and stick to the program.

It’s important to remember that through 21 games this season, the Lightning have done a lot of great things. Steven Stamkos leads the league in goal scoring with 15 tallies, Martin St. Louis trails only Sidney Crosby in the assists category, Sami Salo has been rock solid, Cory Conacher has been a breakout star, Benoit Pouliot has had an offensive resurgence, and the team has put up some very impressive wins. All in all, despite a less than stellar record, a lot has gone right for this group.

The Lightning’s struggles aren’t a result of the team giving up on the coach, or the team losing faith in the system. The Lightning have been felled by big gaffes at inopportune times. That’s not the coach’s fault, that’s not a system problem, that’s not even a personnel problem in most cases. Steve Yzerman spoke of it recently and mentioned that his roster is fine; consistency is the issue. With all the pieces this team boasts, it should be an incredibly competitive group more often than not as long as the effort is there.

So, once again, while it’s easy to say that Roberto Luongo might put the Lightning in the playoffs, or that a coaching switch might shake things up, be sure to think about all that has gone right with this group as it stands right now. The team is playing hard more often than not, the offensive guns are firing, the defense is adjusting to new bodies, and the coaches’ systems don’t look broken at all. Simply put – a lot has gone right. Growing pains are to be expected with a team that has so many young bodies and new faces on the roster. Once this team settles and adjusts, the small mistakes will disappear and this team will be the decently competitive group that all members of Bolts Nation expected when this season began.

Keep calm, Bolts Nation. This is a new team working through common issues. There’s no need to panic; let these guys make mistakes, and grow together. Things aren’t as bad as they seem. Nobody expected this team to challenge for first in the conference, so let’s just see what happens.

As always, thanks for reading. Back tomorrow with a game preview.

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