Last week, Lightning Head Coach Guy Boucher described how his team is approaching the daunting task of climbing up the standings: “We’re like rock climbers.” His point was that it’s not beneficial for a rock climber to glance up or down – the view can be harrowing. Better for the climber to look straight ahead, and only be concerned with the next step.
In other words, if the Lightning are going to make a run over the last two months of the regular season, they can’t worry about where they are in the standings or how many points they need to make up. Instead, focus on the next opponent – and nothing else.
The approach has worked well so far. Before last night’s loss to the Kings, the Lightning had gone 6-0-1 in the previous seven games.
How much progress in the standings have the Bolts made? To this point, seemingly very little. Heading into Wednesday night’s games, the Lightning still trailed the eighth-seeded Ottawa Senators by 10 points and the division-leading Washington Capitals by nine. (Yes, the Southeast Division leader has fewer points than seven other Eastern Conference teams). In the opposite direction, Tampa Bay leads the 15th-seeded Carolina Hurricanes by only two points.
The last paragraph is a perfect illustration for why Coach Boucher made the rock climber analogy. It’s discouraging to measure advancements through these point differentials.
On the other hand, embracing the ‘rock climber’ credo has helped the Lightning play very well during this stretch. In these last eight games, the Lightning have reversed many of the trends that plagued them earlier in the season. We haven’t seen any letdowns for long periods of games. Yes, the other teams have had some momentum surges, but the Lightning have been able to withstand those surges more effectively – and end them sooner.
To that end, they haven’t allowed the opposition to score quick goals in succession, or answer a Lightning goal with a strike of their own. The Bolts haven’t given the opponent any freebies; soft goals have been non-existent and the other teams have had to earn what they’ve gotten. The penalty kill, which struggled at points this season, has allowed only one goal in the last 23 opponent power play chances. The Lightning have continued to receive production from Steven Stamkos, Marty St. Louis and Vinny Lecavalier, but that production has come at an even higher level than earlier. Furthermore, the Bolts are starting to get secondary scoring on a more regular basis. Teddy Purcell, Steve Downie, Dominic Moore, Nate Thompson and Tom Pyatt have all scored big goals at key times.
Still, while the Lightning players continue their climb with the aforementioned singular mindset, the rest of us are free to examine if and how the team can get closer to a playoff berth. Here’s my take. Dwayne Roloson was the post-game guest last night on Lightning Hockey Hotline and provided some perspective on the loss to the Kings: “We weren’t going to go 34-0 after the All-Star Break.” His point, of course, was it’s unrealistic to expect that the Lightning will go on the type of tear that will erase the deficit immediately. He’s right. Teams are shifting into playoff mode and that means that lots of games are going to be very tight from here on out. The Lightning lost last night – and they will lose again before the season ends.
I’m more interested in seeing if the Bolts can bounce back from last night’s defeat and put together another nice string of games. Their solid play facilitated the 6-0-1 streak. There’s no reason to expect that Tampa Bay can’t begin a similar one tomorrow in New York. A series of such streaks in the final 30 games will help them chew up ground.
Losses will occur, but there’s a difference between an overtime/shootout loss and a regulation loss. The more often the Lightning can gain points, even if it’s one point, the better. It’s the regulation losses that hurt. They’re going to happen, but the Bolts need to keep them to a minimum. One regulation loss in their last eight is a very good ratio.
Finally, the Lightning have games in hand on most of the teams ahead of them, including four games on eighth-seeded Ottawa. Naturally, games in hand only mean something if you use them to gain ground, but the opportunity exists for the Bolts to take advantage.
Which brings us back to Boucher’s rock climbers. None of the above scenarios will come to fruition if the Lightning don’t keep playing well. And, as evidenced by what’s occurred in the last few weeks, they play their best when they keep their eyes from peeking up or down.
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