Mishkin's Musings: Bolts playing well but will be tested away from home

Beginning with their November 9th contest against Carolina, the Lightning started a stretch in which they played seven of eight games at Amalie Arena. They just completed that segment, posting a record of 6-1-1 (5-1-1 at home). Now they begin a mirror-like stretch of seven road games over the next eight contests. Here's what went well for the Lightning during their past eight and what lies ahead in the upcoming eight.

Team Defense Continues to Shine: Two weeks ago, I wrote a column detailing how well the Lightning defended during their three-game homestand against Carolina, Florida, and the Islanders. Those three games were the first in the aforementioned eight-game segment. That trend of excellent defensive play continued through the stretch, with one exception. In terms of team defense, the Lightning had a rough outing in their 5-3 loss to the Devils. But that was the one outlier game. In the other seven, the Lightning consistently limited opposition scoring chances. It's true that there were a couple of blown leads along the way, as the Lightning yielded three extra attacker goals. (They ended up winning both those games in the end). But their five-on-five play was consistently excellent. Excluding the New Jersey game, the Lightning allowed a total of six five-on-five goals during those seven contests.
There have been several components leading to these stingy numbers. First, the Lightning have earned a puck possession advantage throughout many of these contests. Essentially, they've defended by playing with the puck. That was true when they faced the Islanders, Flyers (twice), and Seattle. Second, when the Lightning's puck management hasn't been as crisp and they've ceded possession, they've held their defensive structure so that the other team hasn't been able to translate it into scoring chances and goals. Finally, when there have been breakdowns, Andrei Vasilevskiy - and, in the Minnesota game, Brian Elliott - have made key saves.
The fact that the Lightning have been able to deliver these kinds of defensive performances while they've been missing Erik Cernak (who was injured in the first period of the Carolina game) and Brayden Point (who has missed the last three contests) speaks to their team depth. Which leads to the next point …
Colton's Line, Bellemare's Line, and The "D": Boris Katchouk returned from injury on November 13 and joined a line of Ross Colton and Taylor Raddysh. The three players meshed together immediately. In that game against Florida, Katchouk earned his first NHL point, assisting on Victor Hedman's second period goal. Since then, the line has earned more minutes and more responsibility. They're playing determined, hungry hockey and, as a result, they're spending most of their shifts in the offensive zone. The three players have come out of every game with a handful of near-misses on scoring chances. The fact that Katchouk and Raddysh haven't yet gotten rewarded with their first NHL goal might be frustrating, but it hasn't affected the quality of their play. Similarly, Colton, prior to the Seattle game, had generated numerous glorious scoring chances, too. He finally cashed in against the Kraken with his first goal since the second game of the season.
At the same time that Jon Cooper put the Colton line together, he assembled a line of Pierre-Edouard Bellemare, Pat Maroon, and Corey Perry. The three did play together in the preseason and now they've been reunited for the past seven contests. And just like the Colton line, this unit has given the Lightning quality minutes. They have been successful at gaining possession of the puck in the offensive zone and effectively cycling pucks down low. They're also finding the scoresheet. Maroon has points in three of the past four games, Perry is on a three-game point streak, and Bellemare netted the game-winning tally against Seattle. The play of these two lines has been so good that when Cooper had to make a lineup change due to Point's injury, he shuffled the other two forward units and kept the Colton and Bellemare lines intact.
Then there are the six "D". Cernak's injury happened to coincide with the return of Zach Bogosian, who was hurt on opening night. He has slotted in seamlessly with Ryan McDonagh. The success of the Bogosian/McDonagh pairing meant that the Lightning didn't have to switch up the other two pairs: Victor Hedman/Jan Rutta and Mikhail Sergachev/Cal Foote. Foote was unable to play in the New Jersey game, but in the other six (since Bogosian's return), these have been the pairings. Not only have the six played collectively well in terms of how they are helping the Lightning defend, they are also chipping in offensively. They've combined to produce four goals and 18 assists over the past seven games.
The Road Ahead: Now, of course, the Lightning will look to keep things rolling when they play seven of the next eight on the road. It will be a challenging stretch. Over the past eight, the Lightning played games in only two locations - Tampa and Philadelphia. The next eight will take place in eight different cities. This segment includes two games in the Central time zone and three others in Canada. The schedule will be more condensed, too. The previous eight were played over an 18-day span. The upcoming eight will happen over 14 days.
Lots of games and lots of travel. This is part of the grind of an 82-game regular season schedule. We'll see after the next two weeks how well the Lightning navigated their way through it.