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Tampa Bay Lightning Power Play Must Improve

By Tasha St. Pierre

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The Tampa Bay Lightning had 7 attempts on the Power Play tonight against the Detroit Red Wings, and somehow failed to capitalize on all of them.

The Tampa Bay Lightning certainly did not get off on the right foot tonight in Game 1 of the 2014-15 Stanley Cup Playoffs. The Lightning outshot the Red Wings 46-14, but someone came up on the short end of the stick, losing 3-2.

There are many factors that need to improve if the Tampa Bay Lightning is going to come back in Game 2 and get the series back on track. One of the factors that immediately jump to the forefront of our minds is the incredibly sad Power Play.

In the last five games of the regular season, the Tampa Bay Lightning capitalized on at least one Power Play opportunity in all but one encounter, going four for fourteen with the man advantage. Unfortunately, in tonight’s encounter with the Detroit Red Wings the Lightning had seven opportunities and couldn’t capitalize on one.

While the Tampa Bay Lightning are certainly no Washington Capitals (25.3%) on the Power Play, the Lightning have been far from the last place; however, no matter how hard they seemed to try tonight, they just could not get the job done.

We have racked our brains over and over again to get to the bottom of his and figure out where the Lightning made their wrong turn and ended up in the ditch. Unfortunately, it seems as if an old bad habit that we thought was far behind us has come back to bite us in the behind once again.

The Tampa Bay Lightning has simply been overpassing once again. This may seem a like a ridiculous assertion considering that the Lightning put up 46 Shots on Goal, but if you actually paid attention to the team when they had the man advantage, you will see that this is the unfortunate truth.

Don’t get us twisted, we have always been a proponent of quality over quantity, but the harsh truth of the matter is that you fail to score 100 percent of the time on the shots you never take.

If you ask our personal opinion, which we just know you are dying to hear, the Tampa Bay Lightning need to be more aggressive in front of the net, make a better run at rebounds, and just plain take the shot.

Another thing that the Bolts seem to not be doing anymore is taking the shot from the blue line. The Lightning has had quite a bit of success with this in the past, but it just seems like they have decided not to take the risk anymore. This issue is not solely relegated to the Power Play unit, but it did warrant mentioning.

The Tampa Bay Lightning still have plenty of hockey to play. Some people have forgotten that this is only Game 1. The Detroit Red Wings only overcame the onslaught of the Lightning one out of four encounters in the regular season. As far as we can see, tonight can serve as their one game.

A minor adjustment by the Tampa Bay Lightning could mean the difference between the next round and the golf course. While there are plenty of golf courses here in Hockey Paradise, we prefer the ice above all else.

What do you think the Lightning need to take away from this game so they can come back strong on Saturday night? Let us know what you think in the comments below.

Next: Stanley Cup Playoffs: Bolts By The Bay Staff Predictions - Round 1

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