Tampa Bay Lightning has work to do in order to defeat the Florida Panthers

After their 4-1 loss to the Anaheim Ducks, the Tampa Bay Lightning has a lot of work to do if they want to defeat their in-state rivals, the Florida Panthers, tonight in Sunrise.

The Tampa Bay Lightning started off the season with a bang; however, the bang the Bolts Nation heard on Saturday night wasn’t a celebration. It was the Lightning’s momentum hitting a brick wall and exploding all over the ice at the Amalie Arena.

As much as it pains Lightning fans to admit this, the team that took the ice on Saturday night must have been an illusion, because this was definitely not the same team fans have been watching this season.

They were not aggressive in the zone or on the Power Play, their puck handling was atrocious, and the defense was simply not on par. When you mix in a rusty goaltender like Peter Budaj, you have a recipe for disaster.

Here’s the thing. The Tampa Bay Lightning doesn’t have the luxury of sitting back and dwelling on their mistakes on Saturday night. The Lightning is back at it again tonight as they travel to the BB&T Center in Sunrise to do battle with their in-state rivals, the Florida Panthers.

This is the third time this season these two teams have come together in the center of the ice in order to do battle with one another. In fact, the Lightning opened up the season with a 5-3 victory over the Panthers. Unfortunately, the following night, the Panthers would answer with a 5-4 victory over the Lightning.

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In other words, the season series is currently split right down the middle between the Lightning and the Panthers. Surprisingly enough, tonight’s encounter will be the last time the Bolts will see the Panthers this season until March 6 when the Panthers make their way back to the Amalie Arena. At this point, the season series is anyone’s to win.

Now, let’s get down to the matter at hand. The Lightning has a lot of talent on their roster; however, talent cannot solve everything. The aforementioned talent has to put in the work in order to get the job done. While they have accomplished many things throughout the course of the season, there is still work to be done.

As Lightning fans prepare for puck drop tonight, which is at 7:30 pm EST, we’re going to take a closer look at some of the keys to a Lightning victory tonight and what the Bolts will have to overcome in order to head back to the Amalie Arena with another two points added to their totals.

Be Aggressive, But Remain Consistent

One of the things the Tampa Bay Lightning seriously lacked on Saturday night against the Ducks was aggressiveness. The Lightning seemed to be playing very defensively, which is very strange for them; especially this season. If the Lightning wants to emerge victoriously tonight, they will have to bring the fight to the Panthers and make them work for every single shot they get.

As the old saying goes, if you keep the puck out of the hands of your opponents, they can’t score on you. The more time the Lightning spend in possession of the puck; especially in their own zone, is less time the Panthers have to test the defense and the netminder.

At the same time, the Lightning will have to set a pace for themselves they can continue for the entire 60 minutes. It’s always a great night when the Lightning come out of the tunnel like a shot and truly apply pressure to their opponent, but if they spend the next two periods scaling back, this will provide their opponent with an opportunity to strike.

While the Lightning has done a pretty decent job of shutting teams down this season, it is only a matter of time before a simple mistake will open the doors to oblivion. Obviously, this is something no one wants at this stage in the game.

Stay The Heck Out Of The Penalty Box

It may not be humanly possible to express just how vital this particular key to the game is. One of the biggest downfalls of the Lightning’s encounter with the Ducks on Saturday night was the amount of time the Lightning spent in the sin bin for penalties which could have been prevented or came at the most inopportune time.

In the Lightning’s 5-4 loss to the Panthers in the second half of their back-to-back season-opening series, the Lightning gave the Panthers four opportunities with the man advantage; one of which Florida was able to capitalize on. In a one-goal game, the Panthers Power Play goal turned out to be a difference maker.

Granted, there will come a time when a penalty is understandable. When an opponent steps to one of your players, especially your goaltender, it is a player’s job to help break that up. More than likely, this will come with time in the box; however, it will have been for the greater good.

At the same time, there are penalties like Slashing, Hooking, and the ever-dreaded Too Many Men on the Ice penalties which are completely preventable provided players use the little thing known as situational awareness and hockey sense. These are the kind of penalties the Lightning need to avoid like the plague tonight in Sunrise.

Be Aggressive Defensively

The Tampa Bay Lightning has definitely improved their blue line performance over the course of the last few seasons. Unfortunately, there is still some work to be done. There are a few players who are definitely not carrying their portion of the load, and this is having an adverse effect on the team. Once again, we’re not going to name names here, but those players know good and well who they are.

For a good portion of the season, the Lightning defense has done a good job of going on the offense before their opponents enter the zone; however, this is something the team seemed to slack off of during their encounter with the Ducks.

The Bolts need to get back to the place where they immediately bring the pressure to their opponent and stop them from easily walking into the zone like they are on a leisurely stroll with their pooch in tow.

Even the best goaltenders can only be in so many places at one time, and if a team continues to lean on their goaltender, they are going to burn out before they ever reach the postseason. Considering this is Andrei Vasilevskiy’s first season in the number one spot, it would be advantageous for the Lightning to give him a little help in front of the net and prevent him from overworking himself this early in the season.

Tampa Bay Lightning captain Steven Stamkos and forward Nikita Kucherov have brought a heck of a lot to the table this season. Despite having their season-opening point streaks snapped on Saturday night, they have continually dominated the NHL when it comes to goals, assists, and overall points.

Kucherov continues to lead the NHL in goals, having brought home 12 goals in the Lightning’s first 12 games of the season. Stamkos, on the other hand, leads the NHL in both assists (with 17) and overall points (with 21.) Needless to say, there has been a lot of Lightning Blue in the league statistics this season.

Also helping the Lightning on their path to victory has been Bolts forward Brayden Point. Point is currently in third place on the team in overall points, having brought home five goals and seven assists in the first 12 games of the season. While this may not be highlight reel material like Stamkos and Kucherov, these are definitely some well-rounded numbers which have been essential to the Lightning’s continued success.

Also lighting things up this season has been defenseman Mikhail Sergachev. Sergachev, who was acquired by the Lightning in the trade which saw Lightning forward Jonathan Drouin make his way to the Montreal Canadiens, has been making a name for himself here in the Bolts Nation this season.

Sergachev, who seems to be on his way to becoming the next Victor Hedman of the team, has already registered four goals and six assists for a total of 10 points to accompany his plus-5 rating. He has definitely been a workhorse for the Bolts and has more than earned his spot in the Lightning lineup.

Judging by a tweet from Tampa Bay Lightning Hockey Reporter Caley Chelios, it seems as if Lightning netminder Andrei Vasilevskiy will be between the pipes for the Bolts tonight. The Lightning will definitely need a strong performance from him tonight if they want to come home with two points.

While Vasilevskiy has let more than a few goals get past him this season, he still leads the National Hockey League in wins with nine wins in ten games so far this season. In this amount of time, Vasy has maintained a Goals Against Average of 2.20 and a Save Percentage of .936.

There is no denying Vasilevskiy has made some amazing (and acrobatic) saves this season. If the Lightning is going to topple the Panthers tonight, he is going to have to come up with another stellar performance and seal some of the holes in his game; more specifically, his five hole. If he can manage to do this, along with support from his teammates in front of the net, the Bolts should find themselves in a solid position tonight.

As we have said more than once, the Tampa Bay Lightning has a lot of work to do if they want to be victorious tonight against the Panthers; however, they have all the necessary tools at their disposal in order to get the job done. At this point, it’s all a matter of clearing their heads after the Anaheim game and getting back on the right track.

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The puck is scheduled to drop at 7:30 pm Eastern Standard Time tonight at the BB&T Center in Sunrise. As always, Bolts By The Bay will be here to bring you all the latest from tonight’s contest between the Bolts and their neighbors down south. Make sure to stay tuned and we invite you to become a part of the conversation!