1. POWER PLAY FINDS A WAY
Tampa Bay's power play was completely out of rhythm over its first three attempts.
The Lightning switched up the power-play lines at practice this week, and the new units looked like a work in progress against Pittsburgh. Ondrej Palat, moving up to the top power-play unit, nearly added to the Lightning lead late in the first period on the Bolts' first chance on the man-advantage, Palat receiving Nikita Kucherov's feed down load, spinning and shooting for the far post, an attempt that just missed the target.
Beyond that, the Lightning got nothing out of their power play.
That is, until its fourth and final opportunity.
Jake Guentzel was called for hooking with 2:05 to play, the Penguins forward committing the infraction tying up Anthony Cirelli on a two-on-one break. Part of the way through the ensuing power play, the Lightning substituted Brayden Point for Nikita Kucherov on the top unit as it continued to search for any kind of rhythm.
With the revamped unit on the ice, the Lightning finally made something positive happen.
Tyler Johnson took possession of the puck in the left circle then dropped a pass back for Steven Stamkos. With Johnson moving to the right circle, Stamkos teed up a shot for Hedman to drive into the back of the net.
Midway on its path to Hedman, the puck started rolling, but the Lightning defenseman was still able to get all of his stick on it.
"Yeah, I saw the replay, I mean, I made a flat pass," Stamkos said, smiling. "That was the ice. It was flat halfway and then it jumped, so maybe that's what we needed was a little bit of luck that it calmed down."
"It wasn't really (a flat pass), but he's more of a shooter," Hedman countered a few moments later.
However it happened, the puck found the back of the net and the Lightning emerged victorious.
Tampa Bay's power play may have sputtered much of the night, but when the Lightning absolutely needed a goal, the power play was able to come through.
Hopefully the late goal is something the power play can build on as it continues to search for the same rhythm it had a season ago.