The Lightning are just three games away from reaching the halfway point of the season. Here are two of the biggest storylines to their year thus far.
First, the Lightning have successfully dealt with a major rash of injuries. While they aren’t the only NHL team to be contending with numerous and significant injuries this year, they’ve handled the absences as well as any other club. Just look at their standings position. It’s a credit to the work of the players who have taken on greater responsibility and/or come up from the minors.
The second big storyline is tied to the first. The Lightning have played really well through 38 games.
Sunday’s contest against Montreal was an exception, of course. The Lightning were outshot, outattempted, outchanced, and outplayed. The fact that they still managed to secure two points went against the odds, but it can happen. As Jon Cooper correctly stated afterwards, there have been far more of the opposite already this year, games in which the Lightning were the ones deserving of two points but didn’t get any. He added that the best teams constantly outplay their opponent, even when they don’t get rewarded. On the other hand, gaining points by hook or by crook is not sustainable.
That’s why no one on the Lightning needs to apologize for getting two points out of Sunday’s contest. It was an exception. Take out a few games from the first couple of weeks of the season and the Lightning’s standard has been consistently high. Yes, there has been the odd clunker here and there. But in the vast majority of their games, they’ve played at least even with the opponent—and usually better.
Taken together, five team statistics can provide a fairly accurate picture: goals scored per game, goals allowed per game, five-on-five goal ratio, power play percentage, and penalty kill percentage.
Last season, the Lightning ranked in the top five in all of those regular-season categories except penalty killing, in which they finished sixth. Although the season ended in disappointment with the playoff loss to Florida, Julien BriseBois said he would be thrilled to see similar regular-season numbers this season.
Through games played on December 29, the Lightning are tied for fifth in goals scored per game, fifth in goals allowed per game, tied for third in five-on-five goal ratio, and tied for first in penalty killing. The power play has been the outlier, currently ranked 23rd.
Obviously, they’d like the power play percentage to improve in the second half, but it’s hard to quibble with their other numbers. It’s helped them build a Conference-best goal differential of plus 25. Only two other Eastern Conference clubs have a positive double-digit differential, and eight of the 16 Eastern teams own a minus differential.
Of course, their statistical excellence hasn’t resulted in any significant advantage in the standings. All the Eastern teams remain in contention for a playoff spot, even those with some ugly team stats.
The tightness of the standings does mean that the Lightning can ill-afford a dip in their play. So the best way to ensure a postseason berth is to maintain the high standard they’ve established so far.
