The Tampa Bay Lightning will not have the luxury of home-ice advantage in the Eastern Conference Finals. Will this have an impact on the outcome of the series?
The Tampa Bay Lightning fought with all their might to make sure when the regular season came to a close, they would have already earned the right to continue to play once the postseason kicked off. The Lightning fought so hard they were able to garner the home-ice advantage in the first round of the 2016 Stanley Cup Playoffs where they would face the Detroit Red Wings, of which the Lightning would put away in five games.
The Lightning’s luck continued as they made their way into the second round of the postseason where they would face off with the New York Islanders. Having finished higher in the regular season than the Islanders, the Tampa Bay Lightning would once again have the luxury of home ice advantage.
Unfortunately, as the Tampa Bay Lightning continue on to the 2016 Eastern Conference Finals they are going to lose their advantage. Regrettably, this applies whether it is the Pittsburgh Penguins or the Washington Capitals that advance to the next round.
As everyone know by now, the Washington Capitals entered the postseason as the President’s Trophy winners and first place in the National Hockey League by a commanding margin. Right behind the Capitals in the Conference standings were the Pittsburgh Penguins with 104 points over the course of the season. As we mentioned previously, no matter what opponent they face, Lightning fans will have to wait until Game 3 to see their Boys in Blue on home ice.
The question on the top of everyone’s mind now, other than who their next opponent will be, is what kind of impact losing home-ice advantage will have on the Tampa Bay Lightning? Well, in terms of winning, we don’t think there will be much effect on the team.
The Lightning have proven time in and time out they can win on the road, even when faced by some of the most hostile fans in the National Hockey League.
However, there will be an impact on the game as a whole. Rather than having the comfort of playing the first two games of the series in front of their hometown fans, the Lightning will have to deal with more than just the players on the ice, but the roar of the crowd as well. While this may seem like something simple and easy to deal with, the players can actually hear the fans in the stands while on the ice.
Under normal circumstances, this is something a professional athlete has learned to tune out. Unfortunately, when a team is faced with the kind of challenge the Tampa Bay Lightning are about to be faced with tensions rise to an all-time high. This makes it all that much more difficult to tune out. If the Tampa Bay Lightning learned anything from their playoff run last season, it should be to use the opponent’s fans as fuel.
The same kinds of fuel that light the fire inside of each and every player as they take the ice and when brought to a boil and push a player to limits they never knew they could reach. This is the outcome we are looking for from the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Both teams are going to present their own kind of challenges to the Tampa Bay Lightning. It will be up to Tampa Bay Lightning Head Coach Jon Cooper to prepare the team for both scenarios. This way, when the series starts and the Bolts are face-to-face with their next challenge, they are rearing and ready to go.
Next: Steven Stamkos and the Impending Free Agency
As we mentioned before, the Tampa Bay Lightning are about to embark on their most difficult challenge thus far this season. The Lightning knows exactly what needs to be done in order to get the job done. All that is left for the team to do is lace up their skates, but one in front of the other and get the job done. If there’s any team in the National Hockey League who is positioned to overcome just about any obstacle, it’s the Lightning.