The Lightning’s 2-1 victory over the Panthers last night felt like what one hopes is a breakthrough. Sixty-six shot attempts shattered the Lightning’s previous high of 56 from October 23rd in their win over the Penguins. Arguably even more important, they had numerous quality scoring chances. At 5v5, the Lightning also hit a season high in high-danger chances with 17. The Lightning’s goals this season are to improve their puck management, become a better forechecking team, and cut back on penalties. They are achieving the first two in earnest of late, while discipline is still a work in progress. (In Tuesday’s game the Panthers finished with three power-plays to the Lightning’s two.) Still, last night at least, they also showed a zeal for closing out.

Puck Management
The Lightning pounced on a Panthers team that was reckless with the puck. The eventual game-winner by Alex Killorn started in the neutral zone, where the Lightning’s defensive corps successfully quashed the Panthers’ neutral zone speed.

Right as the Panthers recovered the puck and exited their zone, Florida forward Aleksi Saarela was met by Ryan McDonagh and Erik Cernak, who confronted him as he entered the neutral zone. McDonagh’s stick batted the puck toward the boards, and Cernak fetched it and quickly smacked the puck away from the pressure of the Panthers and toward where he thought help was coming. His confidence was rewarded as two-way assassin Anthony Cirelli lay waiting.



Cirelli didn’t need to touch the puck. Instead, what he did was take away not one, but both Frank Vatrano and Noel Acciari’s sticks, allowing Killorn to seize on the loose puck and begin the counterattack the opposite way. Killorn gained entry to the offensive zone and drop-passed it to Cirelli. Freeze the tape, and it looks like Killorn thought he had created a mini two-on-one that he could exploit with the give-and-go. But Cirelli had other ideas. Rather than attempting to saucer a pass through the Panthers defenseman, Cirelli carried the puck toward the middle and fired it off Sergei Bobrovsky’s pad on the near post. As Cirelli released his shot, four Panthers converged on him, but no one had picked up Killorn on the right wing. Killorn shoveled the rebound past Bobrovsky, finishing the rush chance.

Accountability was one of the weaknesses that felled the Bolts in last season’s playoffs. The emboldening of McDonagh and Cernak to stamp out Florida’s transition just as its players crossed the blue line to leave their own zone – the duo’s aggressiveness in forcing turnovers produces the counterattack –is revealing about the confidence the Bolts’ defensive pair imparts to the Steven Stamkos-Cirelli-Killorn line. Cirelli’s support to eliminate the Panthers’ forwards’ sticks and allow Killorn to snatch the puck, and the shrewd placement of the puck on the shot, gave Killorn the opportunity to register a goal from the off-slot.

Forechecking
Positionally, Killorn is as good as they come. On the Stamkos goal to open the scoring, yes, Stamkos tripped Mike Matheson, but the Panthers defenseman still managed to get the puck to his outlet. But Killorn was there as the F2, crashing in at the ideal time to propel the puck toward Stamkos, who had a step on Matheson, and Stamkos’s eyes sparkled as he saw an open path to the net.



It was a perfect forecheck. Cirelli had a well-placed dump-in that gave Stamkos a chance to disrupt the retrieving defenseman, and Killorn was there to force the turnover on the first pass.

The Third Period
A two-goal lead sparks complacency. The team with the buffer tries to protect the lead and attempts to salt away the time remaining. But something odd happened Tuesday: The Lightning crushed the Panthers in the third period. Instead of dialing back their aggression, Tampa Bay seemingly never surrendered the puck, boasting 22 shot attempts at 5v5 to the Panthers’ 10. The Bolts obtained eight scoring chances. This is made all the more impressive considering Keith Yandle committed a penalty and Florida pulled Bobrovsky with approximately three minutes left.

One of things about last night that was so exciting was that the Lightning were using their speed to consistently win retrievals. Last year, it was the speed on the rush that helped the Lightning secure 62 wins. But speed isn’t just acceleration with the puck, and it’s not always in straight lines. This season, the Lighting’s quickness is being demonstrated in areas like forechecking, back pressure, retrievals. Ability to exhibit speed in these areas is generally an attribute of a team that can advance deep into the postseason.

It is unclear whether the Metropolitan will send four or five teams to the playoffs, but the second and third seeds from the Atlantic have not been forcibly set yet. Buffalo, Florida, Montreal, and Toronto are clustered together, and the Lightning are in that pack with games in hand. With the stiff competition of this week not wavering as we float toward the weekend, the Lightning will have more opportunities to make up ground on their Eastern Conference brethren. If they control the puck, forecheck, and close out games like they did on Tuesday, they will be fine.

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