The first week of the 2023-24 regular season is over, and while it started out with a bang, the final two games leave much to be desired for the Tampa Bay Lightning. They put on a show in a nationally televised Opening Night matchup with the Nashville Predators at Amalie Arena, leaving with two points. Once they hit the road for a three game road trip, all against Atlantic Division foes, things went south. The team kept things close in the first period before turnovers and bad defensive zone coverage ultimately sunk them in a 6-4 loss to the Detroit Red Wings. The next night in Ottawa, a late second period goal by former Bolt Mathieu Joseph proved to be a backbreaker in a 5-2 setback.
While the prevailing theme early on has been the inability of the defense to limit shots by the opponent, the number of Grade A chances allowed is probably the biggest concern. In three games, the Lightning allowed over 110 shots. Many of those were prime scoring opportunities that, more often than not, ended up in the back of the net. Both Jonas Johansson and Matt Tomkins made most of the saves they were expected to but struggled when faced with odd man rushes and the like. A prime example of this is the 2-on-1 between Tim Stutzle and Brady Tkachuk that sealed Tampa Bay’s fate in Ottawa. In fact, the power play is the main reason the Bolts are 1-2 instead of 0-3 entering their road trip finale Tuesday night in Buffalo.
Another thing the Lightning are contending with early this season is injuries. Late offseason acquisition Tyler Motte left in the second period of the team’s first game with a hand injury. After getting examined, he was placed on injured reserve, meaning he’ll have to miss at least seven days. When coach Jon Cooper was asked about Motte’s injury and availability, he described him as week-to-week.
In the opening game of the current road trip, the Bolts saw three forwards go down. Thankfully, only one of those players is missing time. Captain Steven Stamkos went down the tunnel briefly in the middle frame but returned to the bench and finished the game. He wasn’t himself though, and ended up missing Sunday night’s Senators game. He is described as being day-to-day, yet won’t play Tuesday night versus the Buffalo Sabres either. For a team that got hit hard when starting netminder Andrei Vasilevskiy had back surgery keeping him out long term, any other injury (especially to key players) seems like a cruel form of punishment.
Goaltending wise, both Johansson and Tomkins have played fairly well in Vasilevskiy’s absence. Johansson stole a win for the team on Opening Night but allowed a couple of soft goals in Detroit. Tomkins made over 30 saves in his NHL debut on Sunday, but the defense let him down.
Up front, both Brandon Hagel and Anthony Cirelli have stood out in a positive light early on. Hagel is always hounding the puck, causing turnovers, and drawing penalties. His penalty shot goal on October 10 is a perfect illustration of this, as he hounded Predators defenseman Luke Schenn into making a mistake before going off to the races. Schenn was forced to pull him down, and the rest is history. Cirelli, meanwhile, centers the team’s second line, and that line has been one of the best in the first three games.
Both Brayden Point and Nikita Kucherov have been invisible outside of the first game also. That’s a little disturbing, though they could still be getting their timing and chemistry back. Having Hagel playing alongside them again might help those two break out of their current funk. At least, that’s the hope for a team that’s struggled to outscore their defensive deficiencies. At least Point played his 300th career NHL game on October 10.
Speaking of milestones, Cooper coached his 800th NHL game Sunday night against the Senators. He needed only a single victory over the weekend to surpass Scotty Bowman for the most wins through 800 games, but it wasn’t to be.
Can the Lightning turn things around in the season’s second week? While unknown, the ability to limit shots and Grade A chances against will go a long way towards becoming a better team.
