Tampa Bay Lightning Prepare To Make History In Game 1

History starts tomorrow night as the Tampa Bay Lightning take the ice at the Amalie Arena to go head-to-head with the Detroit Red Wings in the first game in Round 1 of the 2014-15 Stanley Cup Playoffs.

The Tampa Bay Lightning travelled down a long and arduous road that was filled with more than their fair share of obstacles this season, but their immense depth, excellent coaching, and sheer determination to win allowed them to overcome and claim their rightful place in the post season.

Tomorrow night, the first pages in the history books will be written as the puck will drop on Game 1 of the First Round of the 2014-15 Stanley Cup Playoffs. The Tampa Bay Lightning will come face-to-face with the Detroit Red Wings in a battle to advance to the next round and come one step closer to Lord Stanley’s Cup.

The Tampa Bay Lightning has been very successful this season against the Red Wings. These two teams met on four separate occasions during the regular season where the Lightning would bring home the win in three of the four.

There is one thing that the Tampa Bay Lightning needs to keep in mind coming into this encounter. This is not a team in which you can sit back on your heels and allow them to freely roam the ice. The Bolts learned this lesson the hard way in their final meeting with the Red Wings in the regular season on March 28^th when they were shutout 4-0 by the Red Wings.

During the first period, both teams battled in an attempt to be the one to strike first blood, but in the second period the Lightning simply seemed to fall apart as the Red Wings would net three in the second frame. From that point on, the rest is history.

The Tampa Bay Lightning was one of the Top 5 teams in the National Hockey League this season when it came to scoring points. The Lightning was also Number One in the league in Goals Scored at home where they came in at 139 points.

This is in no small part attributed to the work of a little line known as The Triplets. Lightning center Tyler Johnson, left wing Ondrej Palat, and right wing Nikita Kucherov have been destroying goaltenders all season long with their insane chemistry and their sniper shots.

The Triplets have accounted for exactly 200 points over the course of the regular season. Johnson led the way with 29 goals and 43 assists, tying Lightning captain Steven Stamkos for first place on the team in points with 72. Just behind Johnson is Nikita Kucherov who brought home 29 goals and 36 assists for a total of 65 points. Last, but certainly not least, we have Ondrej Palat who brought home 16 goals and 47 assists for a total of 63.

As good as the Lightning has been on offense this season, the Red Wings have someone that may be able to put a damper on the onslaught of the Triplets during the post season; goaltender Petr Mrazek.

Mrazek had a pretty decent season with the Red Wings. In his 29 games between the pipes this season, Mrazek has gone 16-9-2 with a Goals Allowed Average of 2.38 and a Save Percentage of .918. The fact that Red Wings Head Coach Mike Babcock has elected to go with Mrazek in the first game of the playoffs says a lot about the twenty three year old goaltender; especially when put up against a goaltender like Jimmy Howard.

There are a few keys to the series that will ultimately lead the Tampa Bay Lightning to victory:

Consistency:

The Tampa Bay Lightning have done pretty well in terms of hitting the ice with intensity. The Lightning is seemingly unstoppable when they are the ones to strike first blood. Unfortunately, if the Bolts fall into the habit of letting their foot off of the gas in the second period, it could open the door for the Red Wings to make their move and leave the Lightning chasing the net in the third period.

This is not where we want to find ourselves. The Tampa Bay Lightning needs to focus their efforts and play a consistent 60 minutes of hockey. As much as I would love for them to burst out of the gate with 5 goals in the first period, I would just assume have a steady stream of offense carry them through the whole game.

Penalty Control:

The Tampa Bay Lightning seem to be magnets for the ire of the officials; especially certain ones, who shall remain nameless for the time being who seem to absolutely hate the Lightning. While there are in fact penalties that are simply unavoidable, there are some that are brought on by falling face first into a trap.

The Lightning need to be able to pick their battles, know when to drop the gloves, and stay away from traps that will find them in the penalty box for something that is completely avoidable. While the Lightning’s Penalty Kill has been pretty solid, the more times you open the door for the other team, the more opportunities they have to slam it in your face.

Aggressiveness and Physicality:

The Tampa Bay Lightning has quite a few people of considerable size on their team; however, the one thing the team has lacked of the course of the last few years is physicality. Thankfully, this season some of those players are beginning to use their size to their advantage to make bigger hits and harder checks.

There is nothing that throws off a player more than getting absolutely rocked by a check. And yes…we are talking about the legal hits and not the ones that result in irresponsible injury. (Here’s looking at you, Justin Abdelkader.)

Also, the Tampa Bay Lightning needs to be a little more aggressive with the puck. They have this nasty habit of backing off once they make their way into the zone, or even worse, not having anyone with them to assist them on the play. This needs to be minimalized in the post season.

Also, the defensemen need to pull in a little tighter. At times, it seems as if they allow the other team to slide right into the zone without making any effort to stop them. Every once in a while, it would be nice to have one of our defensemen take charge and stop the play in the neutral zone.

We’re not saying that this never happens, as the Lightning wouldn’t have gotten as far as they have this season, but it is an alarming pattern that is noticeable to even the newest of hockey fans.

All in all, the Tampa Bay Lightning has everything they need in order to get the job done. As they continue to get back the players that were banged up in the back half of the season, things will only continue to get better. We don’t know about you, but we cannot wait for the first puck to drop and this party to get started.

As we said before, history is about to be made and the Tampa Bay Lightning only need 16 more wins to fulfill their destiny and raise Lord Stanley’s Cup once again. Are you ready to Be The Thunder as our Tampa Bay Lightning charge into the post season?

Next: Tampa Bay Lightning: 10 Reasons Why We Are Going To Win The Stanley Cup

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