Advantage Margin            -62
The Bolts did a decent job of drawing power plays (343), but gave opponents more advantages overall (405) and at home (199) than any team in the NHL.

Even-Strength Goals Margin        -29
The Lightning were outscored by 16 goals while playing 5-on-5, but surrendered a League-high 13 goals during 4-on-4 play while scoring only six times.

Special Teams Goal Margin        -33
The Bolts' overworked penalty-killers allowed 89 goals, the most of any team in the NHL. Most of the problems came on the road, where Tampa Bay was last in killing penalties (76.2 percent, 49 goals allowed).

Goals by defensemen            17
The number of defensemen used by the Lightning (20) was higher than the number of goals those defensemen scored. Cory Murphy, who led the team with five, was allowed to leave as a free agent. The Bolts hope top pick Victor Hedman will help.   

Overtime Record
Total: 5-8-10 (OT: 2-8, SO: 3-10)

The Lightning were by far the worst team in shootouts, but they weren't much better in overtime. Perhaps toughest to swallow was their troubles winning at home: The Bolts were 2-3 in overtime at home and 1-8 in shootouts at the St. Pete Times Forum.

Times Scored First
34 (Record: 15-10-9)

Only Colorado (31) scored fewer first goals than the Lightning -- and thanks to its problems in OT and shootouts, no team had a lower winning percentage when getting the first goal than Tampa Bay's .441.       

Best 08-09 Number             17
Goals by No. 1 draft pick Steven Stamkos after the All-Star break. Stamkos struggled for the first half of the season, scoring just six goals. But after the break, he began to show why the Lightning made him the first pick in the 2008 Draft. He scored 23 goals despite averaging less than 15 minutes of ice time per game.

Worst 08-09 Number          29
One-goal losses by the Lightning, by far the most in the NHL. Tampa Bay was also last in the NHL with only 10 one-goal victories.

Scheduling
The Bolts have a chance to get off to a fast start -- after opening with two road games, they play seven of the next nine at home. They have two four-game trips in November and a six-gamer in December, followed by a season-high five-game homestand.