Last season we obviously didn't get to our ultimate goal, but we came awfully close. I think that was a good foundation for the team to start camp with a hard work ethic and concentrate on things we can improve defensively. We started pretty well last year defensively but kind of got away from it. This year we're going to concentrate more on our end with the D we have and the forwards and obviously with Vasy and Louis back there. If we can limit the shots against, we'll be much better. Our team can score goals with the best of them. If we can keep the goals against to one or two a game, we're going to be fine. I think that's been a big emphasis these first couple days of camp is to make sure our D zone coverage is working together and really giving the opposition no time and space.
I think it's pretty rare to have almost the exact same team come back, obviously minus Chris (Kunitz) and bringing in Andy (Andreoff). The team's the exact same team that we had last season. I've never been a part of something like that in my 12 years in the League, and I think that's something special we can really work with. Guys like J.T. (Miller) and Mac [Ryan McDonagh] are starting fresh from camp and getting into the game plan with everyone else. We're really excited how this year can go. It doesn't matter what we did last year. We had a great year, set season records for the Lightning franchise and all that, but it really means nothing unless we accomplish our ultimate goal. I think this year we're really using that for motivation.
So far in camp, we've had two scrimmages, one Friday and one Saturday. It's been a mixed bag for me personally in the scrimmages. They're always a little difficult when you're on the practice side first. Each scrimmage, one side practices before the scrimmage while the other side practices after. We were on the scrimmage side first, so that's why we won Saturday. We were scrimmage second Friday, and it really showed. It wasn't great. Coming off testing, the first day is pretty exciting. Then you practice an hour and 10 minutes with a lot of skating, it's pretty hard to go play a game against guys with fresh legs. Practice is harder when you're doing it after 30-40 minutes of intense game action, but I think either way you're going to be tired throughout the day. I'd rather feel good during the game personally. And, obviously, it's always nice when you're on the winning side, even if it is just an intra-squad scrimmage on the second day of training camp."
