Lightning Need to Find Swagger

By Mark Pukalo

You knew it would not be easy for the Tampa Bay Lightning this season. You didn’t expect this.

The Lightning are barely over .500 with the midway point of the campaign just around the corner and they are not showing any signs that a complete turnaround will occur. This 2-2-1 start to an important homestand is example No. 1. No consistency. Little spark.

Blame it on injuries all you want, but it is only one of the many issues the Lightning have developed after getting within two victories of a Stanley Cup last June. The biggest problems seem to be mental, but there are lingering lineup concerns as they return to full health.

“I don’t know what to say, there is no magic answer,” captain Steven Stamkos said Wednesday after the 5-2 loss to the New York Rangers at home. “These close games, last year we were finding a way to win. Now we’re the team sitting back on our heels. I don’t know if it’s lack of confidence or lack of execution, but there is really no consistency to our game right now.”

Solutions are elusive, because most of the problems are in their heads.

Some people who were there more often than I have told me the Lightning went through the motions a bit in the preseason. That is understandable after a long playoff run. It’s also dangerous. The thing is, if it was a smoldering issue it didn’t seem to affect them as the Lightning came out of the chute with three straight wins to start the regular season. It might have been the worst thing for them. It told them – “We’re fine. No problem. It’s just going to happen.”

However, once it did not “just happen” for them and they needed to find that fighting spirit, that intelligent play and that aggression they had last season -- it wasn’t there. More hungry teams kept finding ways to beat them. Playing only good stretches of games was not nearly enough.

The goal-scoring drought also worked on their confidence. Because the puck wasn’t going in, it seemed as though they reverted back to the “we-have-to-pass-the-puck-into-the-net” mindset that has made their fans’ heads explode at times over the past half dozen years. There’s no doubt with shot blockers everywhere, you have to get pucks through and be careful. But the Lightning have to lead the league in shots passed up.

The perfect example was the blown lead in Washington when Nikita Kucherov passed up a try at the right side of the net and sent the puck back to Vladislav Namestnikov in front. Philipp Grubauer made a great save, but only because he was still there. He wasn’t at the right post where Kooch could have probably flipped a shot into the corner of the cage.

I can be too hard on coach Jon Cooper at times. I admit. He has needed to tinker with the lineup and forward lines this season with injuries and lack of production. No doubt. But his impatience with the chemistry of lines has been a problem in my opinion. I still wonder why the Jonathan Drouin-Stamkos-Ryan Callahan unit was never reunited after some early success.

Cooper can’t seem to figure out how to use Drouin. It is easy to me. Stick him with players that can score in places that he can succeed (the power play?) and let him grow. He is the third pick in the draft. Not a third rounder. Instead, the Lightning have sent him to the minors today, screwing with his head again. Other teams put players picked much lower than Drouin in the lineup and let them progress on their time. Drouin is not a finished product. He has shown improvement defensively this season and his positioning is better, but she still holds onto the puck too long sometimes. He needs to play at this level to learn and adjust, and not on a checking line. The Lightning may realize this when he’s putting up 80-90 points a season for some other organization some day while Stamkos continues to search for a setup man.

The power play, even though it is somehow 9-for-29 the last five games despite still looking mostly dreadful, has become the butt of jokes. As Stamkos said recently, “it is costing us games.” The Lightning make everything look so difficult, passing the puck into crowds, trying high-risk plays. They need to be more selfish. Move it, shoot it, get to the rebounds. Jonathan Marchessault does all those things and he’s had success. Valtteri Filppula never wants to shoot. Kucherov tends to defer to Stamkos. Drouin rarely gets chances. Special teams play is one issue that can be solved on the chalkboard. It is one thing that can turn the team’s season around. That doesn’t mean it’s easy.

No doubt the Lightning miss Ondrej Palat, and Tyler Johnson has not been the same player all season -- although he showed a little more burst the last four periods. Drouin has not been able to stay healthy either and build off his strong start (six points, five games). It just seems like there is something missing, though, apart from injured players.

The emotion, the spirit, the skating is there for a few shifts and then disappears. They play simple and smart in their own zone at times and then they are getting rid of the puck like it’s a grenade on their sticks, too often to the middle of the ice without a teammate in site (see winning goal Wednesday, and it was two of the team’s best players). Yes, it’s difficult to play 60 minutes of great hockey. But the Lightning has been in and out all season. In 2014-15, that was not the case with the same lineup.

Let’s face it. While the Lightning showed their grit and were very worthy of their trip the finals, it was close to being over in the first round. Johnson saved them in Game 4 against the Wings or else they probably lose in five and Ben Bishop stood on his head in the first period of Game 7 before the Bolts found their footing. Where would we be now if they had lost in the opening series two straight seasons?

One thing I was concerned about in preseason was that they appeared to have six players who were better at center than wing. Namestnikov has played some good minutes on left wing, but he still looks better at center and Cedric Paquette seems to play his best hockey in the middle. In my opinion, Paquette and Brian Boyle are two solid fourth-line centers. Both can’t be there. Maybe I make too big a deal of this. But I believe it’s an issue when Cooper puts together his lines.

The lack of a Stamkos contract extension is definitely an issue. Is it a big one in the locker room? No. I’m not sure it isn’t affecting the captain’s play though. He is having his worst season as a pro and it’s not necessarily only about his 16 goals and 28 points. He is making poor decisions with the puck all over the ice and that has led to more time working in his own zone. In Stamkos’ defense, he has continually had different linemates and it’s been hard to find a rhythm. But let’s be honest, he has not been the same since Marty St. Louis left.

The thing is, before his injury Lightning fans – including this reporter -- were arguing Stamkos was better than Alex Ovechkin. Right now, you can’t say he is. Stammer is not playing like a star that makes others around him better. He needs to use his speed, be aggressive, play North-South hockey and forget the little cute passes. Is he still a great player, a great leader and good person? In my opinion, yes on all counts. Is he worth $88-100 million for eight years? Not at the present time.

This might sound strange after saying that, but I would still sign Stammer for eight and 80-88 -- if I knew I could jettison a particular bad contract and had a plan to keep Kucherov, Palat and Alex Killorn, along with inking Victor Hedman to a long-term deal, and made it all work. But if it’s Hedman or Stamkos, the answer has to be the big Swede. He makes more of an impact on the game nightly at this time.

The defense has not played as good as their numbers indicate. Bishop is the reason the Lightning is seventh in the league in goals-against. The top four is solid and Andrej Sustr has shown some progress. But they could use another impact defenseman, especially with Brayden Coburn in the last year of his contract.

It may be time for Steve Yzerman to do something to change the deck chairs a bit. Instead of sending Drouin down, it could have been as simple as putting Erik Condra on waivers and bringing Slater Koekkoek up to play. The Bolts brass has reportedly been at a lot of St. Louis Blues games of late. I speculated a Kevin Shattenkirk-Filppula deal could help both teams, although the Blues appear to be getting center Patrik Berglund back.

Perhaps Yzerman has considered it already, but struggling defenseman Matt Carle (zero points) would likely accept a trade to Colorado where he played college hockey. It would have to be a very creative deal, but the Lightning’s GM has pulled off some gems before. Carle (two years left after this one) and a pick for injured Brad Stuart (one year left after this one for less money) would help with cap space. I’d also make Paquette available. He can be a good player, but I’m not sure he’s a third-line center long term and the Bolts have one of the best fourth-line pivots in the league. He’s got value, so maybe packaging him with Carle could get a trade done. Or maybe I’m dreaming.

It will be an interesting few months. All is not lost. Palat’s return will help and if Drouin can come back in a week or so more confident and healthy with a chip on his shoulder, he would be a big plus. You cannot complain about their goaltending. Bishop has been terrific.

I don’t doubt the players’ desire. They care. You can tell by looking at their faces in the locker room. Through the first 38 games of the season, they are simply not dealing with adversity the way they did last season. That must change. They need to find that swagger they had most of the previous two seasons. Play simple. Be aggressive. Make other teams react to them. There’s only 44 games left. It has to start Saturday.