Lightning forced to adjust to Carolina's aggressive PK

Tampa Bay's power play continued to excel in the opening game of the Lightning's Second Round series against Carolina, the Bolts scoring on their first power play to net the series-opening goal.
But the goal didn't come as a result of a well-designed setup or pretty passing sequence like most of the Lightning's eight power-play goals scored in the First Round versus Florida. Brayden Point's man-advantage marker was scored off a scramble play, where Alex Killorn carried the puck into the offensive zone after the Lightning struggled through the first half of the two minutes to get in, fought off two defenders to get the puck to Nikita Kucherov, the right winger slipping a pass to the middle for Victor Hedman and a shot a few strides inside the blue line from Hedman finding the stick of Point in front to beat Carolina goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic.

Tampa Bay had difficulty getting setup on each of its three power plays in Game 1, mainly because the Hurricanes employ an aggressive penalty kill that doesn't give the opponent much time and space to operate. For a Lightning team that got used to the Florida Panthers' more conservative approach of sitting back and trying to deny all passing lanes, a setup the Lightning feasted on throughout the series, it'll take time for the Lightning to adjust.
The fact they were still able to squeeze one through despite never truly getting comfortable on the power play speaks to just how lethal the Lightning can be at 5-on-4.
"The thing is they do it really well," Jon Cooper said Monday about Carolina's penalty kill following his team's practice at PNC Arena. "There's a reason they had one of the top penalty kills in the League because they've got a plan. So, it's just not all run and gun and hope the other team screws up. They pressure you hard. They know where they're going and when they're going and so you have to work. The power play has to work to get to their spots, know where guys are. You have to think and make plays at a high rate of speed, and basically that's how we ended up scoring our goal."
Carolina aggressively pursues whoever has the puck on the power play, usually sending multiple guys at the puck carrier. And that aggressiveness doesn't just start once the opposition enters the offensive zone. Often, Carolina will harass all the way up ice, making it difficult to even get to the zone, let alone enter it. The Hurricanes finished the regular season with the third-best penalty kill in the NHL, successfully killing 85.2 percent of opponent power plays (by comparison, Tampa Bay was fourth in the League at 84.2 percent). Carolina had allowed just three power-play goals on 26 opportunities through its six-game series versus Nashville in the First Round.
On the power-play goal the Lightning scored, they wasted over a minute just trying to enter the zone before Killorn took matters into his own hands and bulldozed his way to the half wall, where he fended off a couple of penalty killers and was able to slip a puck through to Kucherov. Once Killorn got through that first wave, Kucherov was able to operate with more time and space and could swing the puck to the middle for Hedman with the Hurricanes overloaded to the wing where Killorn had started the scoring play. Hedman had a couple different options of teammates with both Point and Steven Stamkos flying the net, and his shot found the stick of Point for the all-important opening goal in the contest.
The Lightning have scored the opening goal in six of seven games this postseason, winning five of those contests when they score first.
"We had nothing going in that first power play and we end up scoring at the end," Killorn said. "It's a play on the rush where a couple guys converge. They converge so hard to the puck and a lot of times they're successful in getting it. But if you can make a play where it gets through a guy, then they have two guys going to one, that's when plays will open up and that's what happened on Pointer's. Pointer had half a step on a guy, and Heddy makes a great play."
At the end of Monday's practice session at PNC Arena, the Lightning worked extensively on how to deal with the increase pressure Carolina presents. The Lightning had their penalty kill in the face of puck handlers throughout (the Bolts typically play an aggressive penalty kill but not as aggressive as Carolina). As an adjustment, the Lightning utilized the entire area inside the offensive zone, spacing out their five players to make the penalty kill have to cover more ground to reach the puck handler and to open up more seams to give passes a better chance of getting through that initial wave of pressure.
"You have to make one play at least to break it up, and it's usually a difficult play to the middle," Killorn said. "They're coming so hard that it's difficult to get possession. But if you can break through 10 or 15 seconds in, then you can make plays because they're so aggressive."
How the Lightning handle Carolina's penalty kill will likely be a major factor in their ability to get through the Second Round and move on in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Their power play was arguably the difference against Florida, the Bolts clicking at a 40 percent rate in that series, going 8-for-20, the Panthers having no answer for the return of Nikita Kucherov to that unit.
Carolina wants to take away the power play as an advantage for the Lightning. At least through one game, they weren't able to do so.
"You have to think a little quicker, I'll tell you that," Cooper said about facing Carolina's penalty kill. "You need to be in your spots. The one thing about that if you can, they're taking the gamble that you can't make plays under pressure and we're saying we can. And so, sometimes the penalty kill works and sometimes it ends up in the net like it did last night."
INJURY UPDATES: David Savard didn't play in Game 1 against Carolina as the team announced during warmups he was out with an upper-body injury, Jon Cooper following the win saying he was day-to-day.
Erik Cernak was lost during Game 1 as well after getting sandwiched between a couple of Hurricanes behind the Lightning goal in the second period and appearing to bang heads with a Cane. Cernak went immediately to the room after being checked out on the ice by Lightning head athletic trainer Tom Mulligan and didn't play again.
Neither player was on the ice for Monday's practice, although Cernak was spotted in shorts and a t-shirt at the door to the ice prior to practice and came back later to watch for a bit while his teammates trained.
Cooper didn't have an update on either's status for Game 2, only to say both were progressing.
Blake Coleman and Andrei Vasilevskiy were also missing from practice, although in Vasilevskiy's case, that isn't unusual as he's practiced less and less these playoffs to rest up for the games.
"Maintenance days for a few guys," Cooper explained. "I'll have updates tomorrow, but Cerny's progressing, Savvy's progressing. I'll have a little bit more concrete tomorrow."