Bolts still building chemistry on the back end

The Tampa Bay Lightning returned to the ice for practice at AMALIE Arena on Monday following a three-game road trip that saw the Bolts go 1-2-0 with a 3-1 loss to the New York Rangers, a 5-2 win over the Columbus Blue Jackets and a 6-2 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins.
The Lightning were off on Sunday after playing Columbus and Pittsburgh on back-to-back nights Friday and Saturday.

"I think the start in each and every game was good," said Tampa Bay defenseman Victor Hedman, who skated in his 900th career game on Friday against the Blue Jackets, the most games played by a defenseman in Lightning franchise history. "I think we came out with good legs. Obviously, our best game was the game we won. That was the most complete game. There were bits and parts of each game that were good, but there's always stuff to improve."
After getting outshot 39-26 in the season-opening loss to the Rangers, the Bolts rattled off a season-high 39 shots on goal with a consistent effort to get the puck to the net against Columbus. Tampa Bay followed it up with another 36 shots on goal against the Penguins on Saturday, but surrendered 45 shots against in the loss.
"I think for the most part, we got some good chances when we were shooting the puck," Hedman said. "That's what I liked the most about the Columbus game and some of the Pittsburgh game. We created a lot when we shot the puck and created some second and third opportunities. That's huge for us."
Hedman, who has already recorded two assists through three games, has fired 10 shots on goal this season. Nashville's Roman Josi (14) and New York's Jacob Trouba (12) are the only defensemen in the NHL that have more shots on goal.
Hedman has spent the first three games skating on the top defense pair with Cal Foote, who finished the game on Sunday at Pittsburgh, but was a little shaken up after blocking a shot. Foote's status for Tuesday's home opener against the Philadelphia Flyers is still up in the air. Tampa Bay recalled right-handed defenseman Nick Perbix from the Syracuse Crunch on Monday morning, so if Foote is unable to play, Haydn Fleury could slide over to the right side or the 24-year-old Perbix could make his NHL debut.
"Not sure yet," said Lightning head coach Jon Cooper when asked about Foote's status for Tuesday's home opener. "He took a shot and he's just a little tender right now, so hopefully he should be OK."
Ian Cole was back at practice on Monday and skated on a pair with Philippe Myers, so it looks like Cole should make his debut with the Bolts on Tuesday. With Cole out for the first three games of the season, Myers skated on a pair with Fleury while Hedman and Foote manned the top pair.
Erik Cernak and Mikhail Sergachev were the second defense pairing throughout the road trip, but Cernak was up on the top pair with Hedman on Monday with Foote missing practice. With several new faces and roles on the back end for Tampa Bay, building chemistry is still a work in progress.
"I think part of having success is having synergy, chemistry, all those things that go into D-partners, but that takes time," Cooper explained. "Even with our veteran guys, we're still trying to find a little chemistry.
"I think you take a couple months off in the summer and you come back. It's not like you're re-learning how to ride a bike, but you're still not in the flow of things. Training camp, it serves a lot of different purposes. It's not always like you're finding complete chemistry with a partner or linemate or something like that. It's a work in progress."
As the Lightning continue to work on that chemistry, there are going to be some bumps in the road along the way. Those bumps in the road are often accompanied by turnovers and poor puck management, something that Cooper believes was the biggest difference maker in his team's two losses on the road trip.
"It's our puck management," said Cooper. "You get sick of me saying it every year, but when we're playing well and things are going the way we want, for the most part, we're looking after the puck.
"You can't fuel their energy. You can't fuel their rushes. When you start doing that, the time of possession and where you are and how often you have the puck - it's basically field position. That gets compromised.
"You want to have the puck as much as you can, but if you're giving it up in needless spots, it's going to hurt you and in the games we've lost, that's what's hurt us."
The Bolts have had extraordinary success in the past with attention to detail. Tampa Bay tries to eliminate mistakes as much as possible and maintain puck possession. That starts in the faceoff circle, where the Lightning struggled mightily during the three-game road trip.
Tampa Bay won 17-of-47 faceoffs at New York, 16-of-56 at Columbus and 23-of-60 at Pittsburgh. Add them all together and the Lightning won 56-of-163 (34.4%) faceoffs over the course of three games, ranking dead last across the NHL.
"It's not like we've been a poor faceoff team in the past," said Cooper. "It looks that way now, but it's not.
"A faceoff is a five-man game. It's not just on the centermen. The wingers have got to help out. Everybody's got to be involved.
"We're just not there yet, so something definitely we need to improve on."
As for other improvements, Hedman wants to see his team play a strong, 60-minute game. That starts with the opening puck drop and ends when the final horn sounds. From start to finish, the big defenseman knows the importance of a complete effort.
"We just need a full, 60-minute effort," Hedman said. "That's the bottom line. There's going to be lapses in games when you're under siege a little bit, but it feels like, especially in the Pittsburgh game, we kind of gave it away a little bit.
"We had ourselves in a 2-1 game going into the third. We've got to make sure that we give ourselves a better chance than we did. We took a penalty and they capitalized, so we've got to be a little bit better."
While Hedman may have played more games in a Lightning sweater than any other defenseman in franchise history, the thrill of opening night at AMALIE Arena still gets him amped up.
"Season 14 for me, but it never gets old," Hedman said. "It's always fun. We get to play against a team that's started the season well and obviously have a new coach that's got them going, so it's very exciting."
The Bolts and Flyers game is set to begin at 7 p.m. ET tomorrow night with the game being broadcast on ESPN and ESPN+.