The result?
The Lightning dominated the second half of the Nashville game, Point and Kucherov combining for a pretty two-on-one goal to get the Bolts within a score of tying the game. Tampa Bay wasn't able to complete the comeback - not for lack of trying, the Bolts had a pair of Grade-A scoring chances over the final 90 seconds - but the same line combinations returned for the Lightning's homestand opener Wednesday versus Florida and the offense exploded for seven goals, all seven being scored by different players, in a 7-3 blowout win.
Expect to see the Lightning's revamped lines continue when they host the Chicago Blackhawks at AMALIE Arena tonight (7:30 p.m. puck drop).
"If you look at the four or five games before (the line changes), we'd won a few of those games but we weren't really producing a whole ton offensively unless it was on the power play," Cooper said. "I think moving things around a little bit ignited a little bit of energy into the way guys were playing and I think it really helped in their battle levels. When you're winning those 50/50 battles, we're just a much better hockey team. That's what we've been doing, especially since the end of the Nashville game and then the Florida game."
More than anything, the line switches seemed to spark Stamkos and Kucherov. The Lightning captain produced a four-point night against Florida, his franchise-best 12th four-point night of his career and his most points in a game this season. Kucherov tallied a goal and two assists for his eighth multi-point game of the season, tied with Point for most on the Bolts.
Other players benefitted too. Miller recorded three assists to match a career high for single-game assists. Gourde netted a goal, his ninth of the season, that gave the Lightning a 3-1 lead. Hedman picked up a pair of assists for his second-multi point game of the season. And Ryan McDonagh registered a goal and two assists for his third three-point night of the season.
Entering 2018-19, McDonagh had only three three-point nights combined in his eight previous seasons in the NHL.
"I think sometimes things get stale, a little switch up can sometimes spark what happened (Wednesday)," Point said. "I think whoever you play with on this team, you're going to be playing with good players. Sometimes it just takes a little switch up to get something going."
And that's the thing: The Lightning can throw whatever line combinations they want out on the ice and more than likely they're going to be successful. That's because during training camp, the Lightning have guys play with multiple people to see who might have chemistry together and to get everybody comfortable playing with one another on the team.
That way, when the lines do inevitably switch up during the regular season, there's already some familiarity between the new combinations.
"Everybody on this team is very good, so we know we have a lot of depth and whoever you're going with on the ice, you're going to be able to create offense and scoring chances," Gourde said. "That's really important in this organization. We're lucky we have that."
