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Lightning's Speed and Passing Return |
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Don’t tempt fate, Predators. The Lightning’s scoring has been more evenly distributed this season, but their stars are heralded for a reason. The Predators allowed one Steven Stamkos-to-Nikita Kucherov scoring chance in regulation. It happened with three and a half minutes left in the second period. Nashville’s Mattias Ekholm coughed up the puck just below the blue line in his own end. Anthony Cirelli seized on the turnover, poking the puck deep to Stamkos. The captain found Kucherov alone on the weak side, but shockingly, Kucherov couldn’t finish the feed.
The second time the Predators wouldn’t be so lucky. In overtime 26 minutes later, Stamkos saw a narrow passing lane during the three-on-three and delivered the puck onto Kucherov’s blade. The Lightning eked by with a 3-2 victory, snapping a 3-game losing streak. In addition to the wisdom of respecting Tampa Bay’s stars, here are two more takeaways from last night’s Lightning win.
Shooting as a mechanism to get shots in the middle of the ice
When Pierre McGuire interviewed Jon Cooper after the Lightning wasted a five-minute power play, Cooper seemed cheery and relaxed. He didn’t seem bothered that Tampa Bay had squandered the man advantage, but his one critique of the Lightning’s play was that they needed to shoot more.
The Brayden Point-Kucherov duo is at its most frustrating when their line is sealed off along the perimeter but won’t shoot as a means of collecting scoring chances in the slot. In the first period, Point, Kucherov, and Ondrej Palat accrued one shooting attempt in five and a half minutes, which was a great scoring chance on the doorstep that Palat set up, but Point was unable to finish. Sometimes such a quality opportunity doesn’t materialize, and the endless whirring ends in a turnover and counterattack by the opposition. That is why the eventual Palat goal was so uplifting. A shot from distance created a scoring opportunity in the slot.
The Point line used to struggle to force turnovers on opponents’ zone exits, but they are improving. After Point lost the faceoff, Kucherov followed Daniel Carr toward the boards and, just as Roman Josi snapped the breakout pass, Kucherov ran over Carr. Point jumped on the loose puck after Kucherov stemmed the transition, and moved the puck deep to Palat.
But when Palat passed to Kevin Shattenkirk at the point, the Lightning defenseman did not pass it to his defensive partner or chip it deep to create a board battle below the goal line. Heck, he didn’t even look for Kucherov or a pass to a forward below the circles. Instead Shattenkirk quickly zipped a shot on net. It was the right decision. The rebound was kicked out to Kucherov, who waited for Palat to get a step of separation from Ryan Ellias and then Kucherov slapped the puck over for Palat’s one-timer.
The Lightning did catch a few breaks on this play. Pekka Rinne surrendered a juicy rebound and then completely overplayed a possible Kucherov shot. But at the same time, a shot creates chaos. Shattenkirk’s attempt was unlikely to score, but the trajectory of a shot from distance often changes on its journey toward the net, and if the goaltender cannot absorb it, it creates an opportunity for the attacking team. The Lightning want to rupture their enemy’s defensive coverage, and the best way to do that is to generate one-on-one chances in the slot. The best way to do that is by shooting more.
Return of the rush
The Lightning really want to become a good forechecking team. They correctly interpreted last season’s postseason flameout to a style of play that is not conducive to the playoffs. So, this regular season is dedicated to becoming more versatile. But in the process of adaptation, their potency off the rush has dissipated. On Tuesday night, it returned, and Nashville really struggled to stop the Bolts’ passing and speed.
On the Victor Hedman goal, the reason he had so much time to walk the puck to the middle and wind up for a booming slap shot is because the Lightning’s rush pushed back the Predators. Shattenkirk led the entry before he slid the puck to Tyler Johnson. And while Johnson saw his shot blocked, Stamkos was quick to fetch the loose puck and swing it back to the point.
Once Hedman saw he had time and space to crank a shot on net, a welter of bodies formed around Rinne.
There were other instances of a reinvigorated Bolts’ rush as well, and many of the best ones came in the second period. Stamkos had a toe-drag that he used to create separation before he rang a backhand off the post. Then, on the sequence where Ryan Johansen elbowed Point in the face, Point led an entry, but passed the puck to Palat, who fed Kucherov for a shot-pass in the low slot. In the third, Carter Verhaeghe rang a shot off the post after a nice layered attack.
Twitter is a great facilitator of knee-jerk reactions that make the messenger look stupid with the benefit of hindsight. Ironically, I had been grumbling on Twitter after the first period that the Lightning went from being a team whose strengths last season were passing and speed to one that is pedestrian in these two skills in 2019-20. Then the next two periods and overtime happened, and the Lightning demonstrated that they still possess those advantages. Importantly, the rush did not come as an abandonment of the forecheck, but rather as a supplement.
Tampa Bay Lightning Blogger • 
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