Typically, a five-day break during an 82-game NHL schedule serves as a welcome sight for players during grind of a long season. In the case of the Tampa Bay Lightning, that hiatus arrived much earlier than they probably wanted.
Since opening the 2018-19 season with a 2-1 shootout win over the Florida Panthers last Saturday, the Lightning have not played since. Most teams across the league have played three or four games. Tampa Bay remains one of a handful of teams with a “1” in the games played category of the standings thanks to that five-day break.
That break ends on Thursday when the Lightning resume their season-opening five-game homestand. They’ll seek to build off that win over the Panthers in a game that wasn’t pretty by any stretch. Tampa Bay got off to a slow start against Florida, needing a period to find their legs and start generating some offense. In the meantime, Andrei Vasilevskiy came up huge, ending the night with 42 saves and keeping the Bolts in it throughout. Tony Cirelli provided the only offense in regulation, thanks to a shorthanded goal. The penalty killing unit, which was a major weakness last season, went 5-for-5 against the Panthers.
In this week’s edition of Crashing The Net, we’ll take a look at both of the Bolts’ games this week and how their opponents have fared in the early part of the season.
Thursday, October 11 vs. Vancouver Canucks
Despite featuring some talented young players such as Calder Trophy runner-up Brock Boeser and rookie Elias Pettersson, Vancouver figured to have growing pains this season. However, they came flying out of the gate in their season opener, beating the Calgary Flames 5-2 at home. Pettersson notched his first career NHL goal and added an assist, while Jacob Markstrom stopped 33 shots.
In the first game of a six-game road trip, the Canucks surrendered three power play goals en route to a 7-4 loss in Calgary in which they held a 4-3 lead going into the third period. On Tuesday in Carolina, Vancouver fell behind 1-0 just 43 seconds in after Jordan Staal beat Canucks goalie Jacob Markstrom from long range. It was the first of a couple of goals that Markstrom would’ve liked to have had back in a 5-3 loss.
Through three games, the Canucks have shown the ability to score goals. Pettersson looks like a legitimate Calder candidate. Bo Horvat and Sven Baertschi each have two goals and an assist. Although Boeser only has one assist so far, this team’s offense should be more dangerous once he gets going, as he tallied 29 goals as a rookie last season in just 62 games. Vancouver’s problem so far has been their defensive play and their ability to keep the puck out of the net. They’ve allowed an average of 35 shots a game so far and have only registered 39.84% of all shot attempts at 5-on-5.
On paper, this should be a game in which the Lightning get on track offensively due to the Canucks’ propensity for giving up scoring chances and Markstrom having some early-season struggles. Since the start of 2013-14, the Lightning have recorded a 7-3-0 record against Vancouver.
Saturday, October 13 vs. Columbus Blue Jackets
Entering this season, the Blue Jackets had some questions despite being considered a contender. Two of their best players, goalie Sergei Bobrovsky and winger Artemi Panarin, will be unrestricted free agents next summer, with Panarin publicly stating he didn’t want to sign an extension during the offseason. In addition, All-Star defenseman Seth Jones is expected to miss 4-6 weeks due to a sprained MCL suffered during the preseason.
On opening night, they went to Detroit and came away with a 3-2 overtime win, with Panarin scoring the game-winner and chipping in with an assist, while backup goalie Joonas Korpisalo notched 18 saves in the win. The following night, they fell to Carolina in their home opener by a 3-1 score. Columbus put 32 shots on net, but was only able to squeeze one past new Hurricanes netminder Curtis McElhinney. Bobrovsky made 32 saves, then followed that effort up with a 25-save effort in a 5-2 home win over the Colorado Avalanche. Jackets captain Nick Foligno led the way with two goals and one assist while Panarin chipped in his second game-winner.
Through three games, the Blue Jackets have controlled 52.34% of all shot attempts while at 5-on-5, the 12th-best mark in the league. The team has produced a balanced attack so far with Panarin, rising star Pierre-Luc Dubois, Josh Anders, and Cam Atkinson leading the way. On the back end, it will be intriguing to see how Zach Werenski fares without Jones, his usual partner on the blue line. Over the last five years, the Lightning have gone 9-6-0 against Columbus. In the last three years, this three-game season series has ended in a sweep, with the Lightning taking all three contests in 2015-16 and 2017-18 and the Jackets sweeping the regular season series in 2016-17.
All statistics courtesy of NHL.com and hockeyreference.com. Advanced statistics courtesy of naturalstattrick.com.
