Tampa Bay’s game Saturday night against the Avalanche elicited the full gamut of emotions: joy, anger, surprise, sadness, disgust, fear, anticipation, trust. The Lightning scored four goals in the time it takes for a human to run a fast 1600 meters, and then proceeded to surrender that lead. It numbed the senses to watch the Lightning be swallowed by complacency and stop skating or boxing out. But in the end Tampa Bay prevailed, and survival instinct is a necessity when the stakes get higher. The teams that contend for a Cup need to be able to squeak out wins even when they only play 20-30 good minutes of hockey.

First, the positives are worth celebrating. Tampa Bay’s speed can devour its opponents, and in no game situation was that more conspicuous than 4 on 4. The first two goals for the Lightning occurred when both teams were down a man, and Nikita Kucherov had the first salvo, which came on a neutral zone reset. Kucherov jumped off the bench on a line change, and was able to explode through the gap up the middle for a breakaway goal. Victor Hedman seized on the stretch pass opportunity, and it was evident that the Lightning see the 4-on-4 game-situation as ripe to expose weak defenses for a pass-and-dash executed via line change. Cloak the scoring threat until he has accelerated past all defenders.

Kucherov tied with Brayden Point for the most 5v5 Scoring Chances in the game, and his fingerprints were on the third Lightning goal as well. Kucherov provided an effective effort as the F1 to disrupt-and-obtain possession for Tampa Bay, and then the Lightning settled into their cycle. When the Lightning retrieved the puck after a Cedric Paquette shot attempt, Hedman passed the puck to Kucherov on the half-wall, and Kucherov ran a give-and-go with Hedman. Hedman recognized he could take advantage of the ostensibly splay-footed Blake Comeau on the weak side, and Kucherov glided up the half-wall while Hedman beat his man and slung a shot past Jonathan Bernier. It was a nice demonstration by Kucherov of both presence with the puck and playmaking ability. Kucherov knows that when he moves toward higher ice, it spurs rotation, and Hedman was game to exploit the off-the-puck isolation opportunity.

For a team that conceded five goals, the Lightning defensemen deserve a lot of praise. Stralman had two goals of his own. His second one came when Tampa Bay overloaded on the puck, and Yanni Gourde retrieved it and enabled Chris Kunitz and Point’s sprint to the net to open up a seam pass to Stralman on the weak side. Stralman shrewdly had crept to the top of the circle, and proffered a nice release to beat Bernier. Stralman also facilitated what ultimately became the game-winner. Once again at 4 on 4 and with the game at 5-4, he escaped the forechecking pressure of Gabriel Landeskog, carried the puck 150 feet, and found Ondrej Palat in the middle slot. Palat’s shot was blocked, but Mikhail Sergachev surged into the low slot and directed the puck toward the goal.

The five goals the Lightning let up were an amalgamation of ennui and a porous penalty kill. Once the scoring ballooned to four goals, the Lightning flicked the switch to auto pilot, and the results were disastrous. Bad puck management on a line change led to Gabriel Landeskog escaping past the Lightning forwards and Andrej Sustr. (Letting the opposing forward get a step ahead is a precarious situation for Sustr, especially because he does not have the recovery speed to challenge anyone moderately fast.) Tampa Bay struggled to exit the their own zone, and icings and lost battles on 50-50 draws allowed for the Avalanche to win the faceoff and retrieve.

Landeskog scored two more goals because no one bothered to box him out in front of the net. Intemperate and lazy actions led to penalties, and the penalty kill was gutted, sometimes in a cruel manner. (MacKinnon coasted through Point and Alex Killorn and then blew past Braydon Coburn while Tampa Bay was in its defensive posture.)

Spells of bad play are inevitable over the course of an 82-game season, and when the Avalanche pulled within a goal, the Tampa Bay energy went up a gear. Survival instinct and resiliency, especially in the face of possibly losing a game already thought won, are important attributes that lend confidence before the playoffs amplifies the consequences. The Lightning have won seven straight, and this is an outcome-driven business. Like a buffet, Tampa Bay can pick and choose what they want to process and absorb going forward.

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