While it may be a difficult stretch of the season, Lightning defenseman Victor Hedman said, it beats the alternative of practicing.
"I think everyone in this room would rather play than practice," he said. "I think we're on a stretch with 35 games in 72 days or something like that. This is pretty much every other day. We know that. We know we have Christmas coming up and then you have a bye week, extended time without a game, so you know it's going to be cramped up somewhere. I think we're just happy, especially with the way we're playing. We want to get back out there and keep going. There's no complaints in this room about the amount of games we've played."
One key that's allowed the Lightning to continue playing some of their best hockey despite the logjam of games is the coaching staff's ability to read the team. The coaches can sense when the players are tired and need a break. They also have a good handle on what the team needs to work on and focuses solely on those aspects of their game in practice. The coaches know when they need to push and when they should back off.
"They do a good job of trying to give us as much recovery as possible," said Lightning rookie Mathieu Joseph, who's scored three goals over the last two games. "It's been good so far lately about that. We had a couple of days recently which felt good for the body. When it's time to practice, we practice. When it's time to play, we play. When they give us the day off, we take the day off. Definitely impressed with the way our team responded after a couple stretches like that. I think it helps that we play with four lines, that four lines can contribute. We know that takes some weight off some guys. If you play 22, 23, 24 minutes a night, it's tiring for a body to play every other day. I think we've been able to manage that pretty well and it definitely gets easier for some guys if you can manage the lines like that."
That's the added benefit of the depth this Lightning team has displayed this season. Not only are they able to wear other teams out at the end of games because they're fresh while the opponent is tired, but they're able to sustain a high level of play over multiple games because no one line or group of players is getting the bulk of the minutes. They're spread out evenly so nobody's overtaxed.