After their surprise absence from the 2017 playoffs, the Lightning made a concerted effort to start the following season with a flourish. It was a common theme throughout training camp. Practices were fast paced and intense. There was a noticeable focus to how the players and coaching staff went about their business in September so that when October rolled around, they'd be ready to hit the ground running.
The end result was the best opening month in franchise history. Tampa Bay went 10-2-1 in October, tied with St. Louis for the top record in the NHL. When the calendar flipped to November, the Lightning had already established a five-point lead on the next-best team in the Eastern Conference and a six-point lead over second place Ottawa in the Atlantic Division.
That start helped sustain the Bolts throughout the remainder of the schedule. The Lightning finished 2017-18 with a 54-23-5 record, the 54 wins and 113 points both franchise records. Tampa Bay won the Atlantic Division, the third time in team history it captured a division title, and earned the top seed as the No. 1 team in the Eastern Conference for just the second time ever.
"I know that you don't win a Stanley Cup in October, but you sure give yourself a much better chance to make the playoffs if you get off to a good start," Cooper said.
A similar good start would be beneficial this season for the Lightning too, and the memory of how that early lead helped sustain them when they hit a lull after the All-Star break has the team focused again on getting off on the right foot.
"I think it's something we've talked about and it's one of those things that's a point of emphasis in training camp because of the way we went about things this year and the previous year," Tampa Bay defenseman Braydon Coburn said. "When we're stepping on the ice tomorrow it's been kind of three weeks culminating to that point to get ready for the start of the season."
Of course, if things go awry early on, all is not lost. Last season, for example, the Lightning split their first two games in a home-and-home back-to-back with the Panthers and didn't necessarily resemble a Stanley Cup finalist team many pundits had predicted during the preseason.
"Even though it was a split 1-1, you could make an argument they could have taken both," Cooper said. "After that, I think it was a little bit of a wake-up call for our group, and the guys really took off."