Tampa Bay Lightning 2014-15: A Month-by-Month Look at the Upcoming Schedule

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October

Unlike last season, which began with a three-game road trip (in Boston, Chicago, and Buffalo, respectively); the 2014-15 season begins with a relatively easy three-game home stand at the Tampa Bay Times Forum, starting on Oct. 9 against the Florida Panthers, followed by the Ottawa Senators (Oct. 11) and the New Jersey Devils (Oct. 14).

After the home stand, the Bolts hit the road for their first real challenge in October:  a five-game, mostly Canadian, road trip – starting with Vancouver on Oct. 18; then on to Edmonton and Calgary for the season’s first of 11 back-to-back games; a stop-off in Winnipeg on Oct. 24 before zipping back to the states for a showdown with Minnesota the next day for another back-to-back.

Of the 10 teams faced in October, only two made the 2014 Stanley Cup playoffs (Philadelphia and Minnesota).  Overall, a pretty easy opening month for the Lightning with plenty of room to grow and grab 14-16, maybe even 18, of the possible 20 points; if the Lightning come out rocking from the get-go, like they did last year.

The Bolts could set the tone fairly early in October with a good start, but the following months won’t come as relatively easy as this one, so hopefully the Bolts will take advantage of it and go from there.

Home/Away Breakdowns:  5/5; Total Games:  10

Toughest Matchups:  Minnesota Wild, Arizona Coyotes, Philadelphia Flyers

Key Facts:  one five-game road trip; two back-to-backs; 20 possible points

Month Difficulty: Moderate-to-easy, depends on how hot the start is and how they negotiate that first long road trip and a few Western Conference foes later in the month.

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November

Hopefully this coming November won’t be the disastrous month it proved to be last year with Steven Stamkos’ gut-wrenching leg injury.  If October starts the season off with a bang for the Lightning, as we all hope it does, then November 2014, if injury and calamity free, could be the most dominating month for the Bolts, as last year threatened to be before Stamkos went down.

A month like that could seriously help Tampa Bay take hold at the top of the Eastern Conference standings (like last year) and remain there, hopefully, going into the New Year.

The Bolts will need to take full advantage of October and November when they can because it gets a lot tougher in December and throughout 2015.

And you mustn’t forget that November also marks the first time the Lightning faces Martin St. Louis, and his new team, the New York Rangers, since the infamous trade – on two dates:  Nov. 17 at Madison Square Garden, and on Nov. 26 (fitting, right?) at the Forum.

Both early matchups, especially the one at the Forum, which I plan on attending, should be something to behold.  Interested in seeing how the Tampa crowd welcomes our somewhat fallen hero.

November definitely has a leg-up on October on the difficulty scale.  The Bolts have two rather challenging three-game road trips, against challenging opponents:  Columbus, Detroit, and Chicago starting on Nov. 9, followed by that first Rangers game on Nov. 17; a back-to-back against the New York Islanders the following day; and wrapping up in Toronto on Nov. 20 against the Maple Leafs.

The Bolts also face an always tough San Jose Sharks team, at home, on Nov 13.  This month should show the validity of the Lightning’s cause early if they mean to be up in the mix before Christmas break.

Home/Away Breakdowns:  7/6; Total Games:  13

Toughest Matchups:  Columbus Blue Jackets, Detroit Red Wings, Chicago Blackhawks, San Jose Sharks, New York Rangers

Key Facts: two three-game road trips; two back-to-backs; 26 possible points

Month Difficulty:  Moderate-to-hard

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December

This month is the first of the two longest in the 2014-15 season (both December and March have 15 games) and presents the first of four incredibly difficult months for the Lightning.

A five-game road trip, starting on Dec. 13 and ending on Dec. 20, sees the Bolts facing several teams in a row that gave them trouble last year – including the Pittsburgh Penguins for the first time.  Tampa Bay started putting together something against the Pens late last season, so lets hope that tradition continues in 2014-15.

If the Bolts are up near the top of the standings coming into December, then it’s imperative that they have success against proven thorns in their sides:  the Pens, the Washington Capitals, the Devils, and the Isles (who sometimes stump the Bolts when it should be easier).  Tampa Bay faces the Pens twice in December (once on the road and once at home), along with the Caps, and it faces the Sabres three-times, so some possible easy points are there for the taking, if the Bolts can navigate the hard games just as well.

To me, December is a setup month.  The Bolts need to set themselves up with good positioning before the Christmas break so that when they reach mid-to-late January (a month the Lightning struggled through last season) they are well positioned for the ridiculously hard two-month homestretch that is February and March.

Really there are no easy months in the NHL but December sets up all that you hope will come after.  So the Bolts got to string together those wins/points early and often before 2015.

Home/Away Breakdowns:  7/8; Total Games:  15

Toughest Matchups: Pittsburgh Penguins, Columbus Blue Jackets, New Jersey Devils, Washington Capitals, New York Islanders

Key Facts:  two road trips (one two-game and one five-game); two back-to-backs; 30 possible points

Month Difficulty: Hard

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January

This month brings the pain.  Starting right off the bat with the Penguins, in Pittsburgh, on Jan. 2.

A four-game road trip that started on Dec. 31 in Buffalo goes through Pitt, Ottawa, and ends in Montreal against the Habs on Jan. 6.  The Bolts got some unfinished things to workout with the Canadiens, as we all know, after that four-game sweep in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs this past April.

But Montreal isn’t the only tough Eastern Conference foe to meet up with the Bolts for the first time in January; the brutish Boston Bruins make their first 2014-15 season appearance against Tampa Bay on Jan. 13, at the TD Garden, on the tail end of a back-to-back (the Lightning play the Flyers the day before in Philly).  So the Bolts have their work cut out for them on that day against what will most likely be a very good Boston team, once again.

This month does see a fair shake of home games for the Lightning to get some special home-cooking done against another slew of formidable foes, a bunch of which saw the playoffs this past year:  the Colorado Avalanche (Jan. 17), the Red Wings (Jan. 29) and the Blue Jackets (Jan. 31).

I’d say this month is comparable to the difficulty level of December, with fewer games, but seeing the Pens and the Bruins in one month, under difficult settings, gives this month an added level of challenge that the Bolts will simply have to meet head-on.

February beckons… and February will be rough.  This month needs to be successful because if there is any month where the Bolts might struggle to string together points, it will be February.  So no flat-footedness in January will do.  Not with the Stanley Cup Playoffs on the line.

Home/Away Breakdowns:  6/6; Total Games:  12

Toughest Matchups: Pittsburgh Penguins, Montreal Canadiens, Boston Bruins, Colorado Avalanche

Key Facts: three road trips (one four-game, one two-game b-t-b, one out and back to Carolina); one back-to-back; 24 possible points

Month Difficulty:  Harder due to Boston and Pittsburgh games on the road.

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February

The month of love looks like Armageddon on paper for the Lightning.  The Bolts will face almost exclusively Western Conference teams, a majority of which come from the power elite Pacific Division.  And if that wasn’t enough, these games take place almost entirely on the road.

Opening on Feb. 3, the month leads off with two Western Conference playoff qualifiers, the St. Louis Blues followed by the Dallas Stars on Feb.5.

The defending Stanley Cup Champions, Los Angeles Kings,  figure largely in this month as the Bolts face them twice.  Game One against the Kings (Feb. 7) starts the first of three back-to-backs (that’s right) in the month (Anaheim Ducks lead off on Feb. 8). Then Los Angeles gets to host the second game of a back-to-back on Feb. 16 after the Bolts get through a battle with the Sharks the previous day on the road.

Can you say damn? And those are just what sticks out, honestly, just about every game of this month presents a challenge to Tampa Bay.

That Sharks/Kings back-to-back starts off a five-game road trip that sees the Bolts meet up with the Ducks (Feb. 18), the ‘Yotes, and the ‘Lanche (the third back-to-back on Feb. 21 and 22), before heading home  for a one-off against the always extremely good Chicago Blackhawks.

The Bolts almost seemed lucky to meet Chicago early last season, with much success, then never seeing them again.  Look for the Blackhawks, by February, to be well in the rhythm of what makes them a Cup threat every year; thusly, seeing Chicago anytime in 2015 is going to be a tough challenge.

If Tampa Bay meets this challenge well, grabbing as many points as they can muster, while not getting lost in any losing streaks (which could easily happen against this level of competition), then that could curtail nicely into the next long, but home-heavy month of March.

Home/Away Breakdowns:  4/8; Total Games:  12

Toughest Matchups:  The ENTIRE month is a “Toughest Matchup”.

Key Facts: three road trips (one two-game, one out and back to Nashville, one five-game); three back-to-backs; 24 possible points

Month Difficulty: Apocalypse Now

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March

March features nine home games (six in-a-row at one point) which could translate into a nice respite from the trials of February, but the level of competition doesn’t drop very much, if at all (a lot less Western Conference, which is nice), and this month features the second most games in the season (15), along with December, so it’ll be a long month, and the pressure to pile up last minute (or pivotal ) points for the playoffs will be paramount.

The sheer amount of games, and the fact that they are against, for the most part, top-notch clubs (Boston, Detroit, Montreal) put March up there with the Valentine’s Day Massacre (that is February) on the difficulty scale, but with all those lovely, lovely home games the Lightning at least have a shot of turning a long home stand into something streaky; compiling late season points, which more than likely, they will need.

Things are still going to be pretty tight in the Atlantic Division this year,  I think, so every point at this moment in the playoff push will most likely be sorely needed.

On Mar. 10 the Bolts meet up at the Bell Center once again to battle out with the Habs; then hit the road again for another road game in Boston on Mar. 12.  This little two-game road trip marks one specific challenge, while on March 28-31 (and into April) the Bolts wrap up their 2014-15 road season with one final five-game road trip:  hitting up Detroit, Montreal (again), Toronto (back-to-back), Ottawa and finishing off with an in-state showdown with the Florida Panthers on April 4.

Home/Away Breakdowns:  9/6; Total Games:  15

Toughest Matchups:  Montreal Canadiens, Boston Bruins, Dallas Stars, Detroit Red Wings (especially at this time of the year)

Key Facts:  three road trips (one and back to Miami, one two-game, one five-game starts in Mar.); one back-to-back; 30 possible points

Month Difficulty: Pretty freaking hard, but all those home games could be lights out.

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April

This month is mostly a two-week flare before the postseason starts, and we all deeply hope that the Bolts are still playing after this last bit of the regular season.

But don’t for a second think that this month is easy; April may be barely a month to contend with but a few formidable opponents make their way to Tampa Bay for a last ditch effort to keep the Bolts pointless, so the Lightning need to finish April, and the 2014-15 season with fortitude.

After wrapping up the five-game road trip (last of the regular season) started in March with games against the Senators (Apr. 2) and the Panthers (Apr. 4), the Lightning must wrap things up at home against first Montreal, then New Jersey, before finally facing Boston to close out the season the way the last one (2013-14) opened.  Hopefully with a win this time.

These three teams could definitely pose problems for whatever last minute points Tampa Bay may need (as it did last year for the No. 2 seed) so hopefully the Bolts maintain their composure.  No real layups here in April, unless you count the Panthers (and maybe Ottawa) but that’s not a given.  Especially, if like last year, they’re out of the playoffs and just playing for jobs.  Sometimes that’s makes some of the bad teams dangerous down the stretch (think Buffalo, New York Islanders last year).

Home/Away Breakdowns:  3/2; Total Games:  5

Toughest Matchups:  Montreal Canadiens, Boston Bruins, New Jersey Devils

Key Facts:  one two-game road trip (last two of a five-game); No back-to-backs; 10 possible points

Month Difficulty: Easiest, but that’s deceptive; it’s a long season and the Bolts might need points so that adds to the difficulty during the last grasp of the playoff push.

Conclusion:

The Tampa Bay Lightning have one doozy of a season ahead of them; a season, that I think, will be very hard to pull another 100-point season out of.

Is it impossible?  No.  I don’t think it is.  Of course not.  The Bolts are very good, so it’s in their wheel house for another 100-point season.

But the Bolts are really going to have to go out and get it at certain points during the year; when the going gets tough, the Bolts have to get tougher, as they navigate this schedule; because after November, the difficulty of the opponents the Lightning will face, and the challenges of facing these elite clubs, back-to-back, on the road, only increases.

Tampa Bay needs to establish what it is all about fast, from the get-go, and then hold onto that winning strategy for as long as it can be sustained; while conversely righting the ship just as fast after slipping from time to time, which is bound to happen.

I believe if the Bolts can stay healthy, then they will do this.