More Consistent Play, Special Teams Fueling Tampa Bay Lightning Run
With Boston coming off a come-from-behind win at Florida the night before, Jon Cooper’s message to his team was that the Atlantic Division-leading Bruins may have arrived in Tampa a little fatigued. Playing a physical game out of the chute could tip the scales in the Lightning’s favor.
Sure enough, the Lightning hit early and hit often. They recorded 47 hits, their second-most in a game this season and twice their season average, in a 3-1 win at Amalie Arena on Wednesday evening.
“Take advantage of a team that emptied the tank the night before,” said Cooper.
Tampa Bay has been taking advantage of many things during an eight-game point streak (7-0-1) they take into Saturday evening’s match with the visiting Red Wings. The run has lifted the Lightning to within four points of third-place Toronto in the Atlantic and has them in the desirable position of controlling their own destiny as far as making the playoff cut. Indeed, Tampa Bay has breathing room when it comes to the wild card picture
The Lightning have been helping themselves by limiting turnovers, especially those that too often left goalies Andrei Vasilevskiy and Jonas Johansson hung out to dry earlier this season. Playing a noticeably more patient brand of hockey has allowed Tampa Bay to capitalize on its opponents’ errors.
“We are just not giving up the freebies,” said Cooper, whose team went 4-o-1 on a recent five-game trip. “You start taking away the glaring errors and we have played a much more consistent game, which has helped us out.”
