Bolts use Wednesday's practice to address issues from three-game skid

Before Jon Cooper broke down the drills his players would be performing over the next hour or so on a white board next to the bench, the Lightning head coach reminded his team it had been 23 days since they last held a practice as a full squad.
Wednesday at AMALIE Arena, the Bolts would finally get a chance to work on areas of their game that had slipped over the previous weeks.

Because of the condensed schedule combined with the need to keep players rested, Tampa Bay went nearly a month without conducting a training session. The coaching staff had Monday circled on the calendar for a couple weeks as an opportunity to practice. The team had two days off between games for the first time since the final day of February and opening day of March.
But after completing a grueling eight-games-in-13-days stretch of the schedule Saturday, the staff determined an extra day of rest would be more beneficial.

So, Wednesday, they practiced. They worked on their game in the offensive zone, cleaned up their defensive zone, drilled the neutral zone. There was a special teams portion, and, a player favorite, mini-game battles where the nets are brought close together to about half their normal distance and small-sided competitions ensue.
All in an effort to try to end a season-long three-game skid.
"It's tough when you're not able to practice and trying to work on things you need to get better at, but it was nice to get that day today," Lightning center Anthony Cirelli said.
Even before the Bolts' recent slump, the coaching staff had seen troubling aspects of the team's play. They were giving up too many odd-man rushes, which led to numerous prime scoring chances against. They were taking too many penalties, a problem that's crept into their game at various times over the last couple seasons.
Certainly, injuries on the back end to Ryan McDonagh and Erik Cernak, as well as a new injury Jan Rutta sustained in Tuesday's 3-1 loss versus Columbus, has led to the Lightning's uneven play of late. And some of their problems had been masked by the fact the team was winning up until last week and was firmly planted atop the NHL standings.
While there's no panic among this veteran Lightning group after three-straight losses, there is an urgency to get back to the details of their game and return to the defense-first approach that served them so well during the 2020 Stanley Cup Playoffs and over the first half of the 2020-21 season.
"Last night, we had our legs," Cooper said of the loss to the Blue Jackets in which his team owned a 38-21 advantage in shots, including a 20-11 differential in the second, a period the Lightning were outscored 2-0. "Watched the tape, I didn't mind a lot of our game last night to be honest. In the offensive zone, were we out of sync a little bit? We were. Did we leave a few plays out there? There was no question, so we tied to tidy a few of those things up. But the bottom line is, if there's any holes in the boat, you plug one and another one opens up. I don't think we're at that stage at all. I think the pace of our game has slowed, and I think that's what happens when you don't practice. Eventually, if you're just playing games at a rapid pace, your game pace slows. And that's what practice can do when you get it is you can pick up your pace, and that's what we hoped to do with today's practice."
INJURY UPDATES: Lightning defenseman Ryan McDonagh was a full participant at Wednesday's practice, partnering with Andreas Borgman during drills and taking up a spot on the penalty kill during the special teams portion of the training session, a good indication he might be ready for a return as early as Thursday when the Bolts complete the two-game set against the Blue Jackets.
McDonagh has missed four games with a lower-body injury.
"Mac is close, so we'll see," Cooper said. "Tomorrow, hopefully he gets some good news that he can play, so we'll see tomorrow."

Erik Cernak is day-to-day with a lower-body injury that has sidelined him the last three games. He was the first player on the ice for practice and skated mostly by himself for 10 minutes but returned to the locker room before the full session began and didn't return.
Jan Rutta, day-to-day with a lower-body injury sustained Tuesday, didn't make an appearance Wednesday.
"Cernak and Rutta are steps back unfortunately. We'll have to see," Cooper said. "I can't make a prognosis quite yet, but we were hoping they'd be a little farther along than they are and they're just not right yet."
Mitchell Stephens has been out since the fourth game of the season January 23 but fully participated Wednesday wearing a regular jersey. The Lightning center is now in the day-to-day category, upgraded from out indefinitely.
"Stephens is getting close, really close," Cooper said.