Bolts hope to avoid a slow start following another extended break

Twelve days ago, the Tampa Bay Lightning came out of an extended, eight-day break for the All-Star Game to take on the Colorado Avalanche, the top team in the Western Conference.
The first 10 minutes of that game in Denver weren't pretty from a Lightning perspective.

Colorado overwhelmed the sluggish Bolts from the start of that contest, the puck buried in the Tampa Bay end most of the first period as the Avs sent wave after wave of pressure and chances at Andrei Vasilevskiy's net. Colorado scored 2:34 into the contest. The Avs added a second marker three-and-a-half minutes later in 4-on-4 play to build a 2-0 lead by the first intermission. The Lightning were outshot 24-10 in the opening period, the 24 shots the most they've allowed in a period this season.
Tampa Bay recovered well, twice pulling within a goal, but could never overcome its listless start in a 3-2 defeat, the Bolts only loss in the month of February.

The Lightning face a similar scenario Wednesday when they host the Edmonton Oilers and superstar forwards Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl at AMALIE Arena, their first game in over a week after getting time off for what was supposed to be the Olympic break.
The Bolts are hoping the lessons learned from the debacle in Denver will aid them against the Oilers. They re-acclimated themselves to the ice during a practice session Monday at AMALIE Arena and used Tuesday's session to fine-tune their game in preparation for an Edmonton team that is clinging to a playoff spot in the West.
"We all know it was a pretty slow start in Colorado. We know what happened. I just think we've got to prepare ourselves starting today," Patrick Maroon said after Monday's practice. "I thought today was a good practice, tomorrow's going to be a really good practice and prepare ourselves for the first 10 minutes. They've been playing. We know they're going to be coming out of the gate. They're a desperate hockey team, new coach. They're playing with a lot of energy. We know they're going to be coming hard. We've just got to match that intensity right off the bat. We've got to come with a lot of fire, just moving our feet, playing a little faster and get on them quick."
The Oilers also have the benefit of playing regularly coming into Wednesday's matchup. Since the Lightning last played February 15, a come-from-behind 6-3 win in New Jersey, Edmonton has played three times, winning twice. The game against the Lightning is the start of a lengthy, five-game road trip for the Oilers.
"We know Edmonton's been playing a lot of hockey while we've been sitting around," Maroon admitted. "These two (practice) days will help us, and we've just got to prepare and be ready."
The rocky start against Colorado wasn't a one-off either for the Lightning. In their last game against New Jersey, coming off a three-day layoff, the Bolts fell behind 3-1 to a team at the bottom of the Metropolitan Division standings before rallying for five unanswered goals to win going away. Earlier in the season, the Lightning came slow out of the holiday break at home against Montreal, the NHL's worst team points-wise, but found their game in time to win 5-4 in overtime, Corey Perry scoring an extra-attacker goal with 20 seconds remaining to force the extra session and Ondrej Palat netting the winner 36 seconds into OT.

"The troubling thing's been, Colorado, that first 10 minutes was a little eye opening for us, and even New Jersey we had a stale first period," Tampa Bay head coach Jon Cooper said. "I can go back as far as Montreal, the first game after that break we weren't on top of our game. We're batting 0-for-3 right now, hopefully we can hit one out of the park tomorrow and have a good start."
Coming off a lengthy break is always a tough proposition in hockey, no matter the team or the time of season, Cooper said, mainly because there's no way to mimic the motions on the ice, even if players are working out regularly during their time off.
"It's one of those sports that you just don't use the hockey muscles you do in regular life," Cooper explained. "And so, you take a little bit of time off, rust will set in. It's that muscle memory of when you're going every day, every second day when you're on top of things. The thing for me though is it's healing the wounds and those bumps and bruises that nag and stay with you and wear you down, that's what I like about the break. You don't want to see it sacrifice points and games. As a group here, we've rallied and won some of these games we've needed to, but in the long run, after the outdoor game [Saturday in Nashville], I think we're playing 31 games in 60 days. That is a boatload of hockey. Hoping a little break like this will help us for that stretch."