Last night’s 5-4 overtime loss to the Winnipeg Jets was frustrating. The Lightning blew a one-goal lead with less than six minutes left in the third period. Tampa Bay conceded a goal in the final minute of both the first and second periods. They scored two power-play goals and notched four goals total, but still managed to lose despite having the best goaltender in the league back. The Lightning faced a team that is every bit their match in speed, skill, and depth, and this exposed their defense as rickety when experiencing too much weight (pressure). So where did they creak and how do they shore up their foundations? It starts with boxing out, communication, and improved positional awareness.
Every team gets hemmed in its own zone. It is an unavoidable consequence of playing a competitive hockey game. But the best squads take care of business around the net, which means allowing their goaltender to have an opportunity to make the initial save by giving him the best sightline possible. If you are a center or a defenseman, that requires boxing out, and it is your duty to eliminate second-chance opportunities by taking away your opponents’ sticks.
With the score 1-1, the Jets had the Lightning scrambling in their own zone, and Jets defenseman Josh Morrissey lobbed a puck on net. Andrei Vasilevskiy made the initial save, but failed to absorb the shot. There were two Winnipeg forwards (Brandon Tanev and Adam Lowry) around the crease who were being defended by Brayden Point and Mikhail Sergachev. Tanev was able to claim control of the puck, spin around, and fire another shot on Vasilevskiy. Instead of demolishing Tanev after the rebound shot, Point fell in the crease, ceding the puck to Winnipeg. Tanev stuffed the puck in along the goal line on the third shot attempt. (Goal begins at 1:40.)
The problem was that the Lightning failed to get in the shooting lane on the Morissey shot attempt, and then Point repeatedly lost the battle against Tanev in the crease. This is the Lightning’s first line against the Jets’ third line. It is great that the Lightning have Vasilevskiy back, but every single goal he allowed was not his fault. The Lightning’s defense collapsed under heavy duress.
On the goal with 40 seconds left in the second period, a Lightning communication error resulted in Nikolaj Ehlers’ first goal of the night, tying the game at 3-3 right before intermission. Jacob Trouba had a shot-pass to Blake Wheeler, who bizarrely was in the slot unmarked, but the shot attempt was swept to the corner. This set the table for a race to the puck between Anton Stralman and Wheeler. Mark Scheifele initially appeared like he would race toward the loose puck, but hung back in the hope that if Wheeler got him the puck, he would have a path to the net. Stralman chopped at the puck in an effort to push it up the boards to Steven Stamkos, who was sauntering toward the wall and several feet in front of Scheifele. But Stralman had his stick disrupted, and Wheeler spun around and found Scheifele, who had dropped into a pocket along the left circle. Scheifele was wide open because, once Wheeler won the battle for the puck, Stamkos converged on Wheeler. Once Scheifele received the pass, he saw Ehlers hanging out in the off-slot and cued him up for the one-timer. (In video above, goal begins at 2:55.)
It was a two-on-two along the boards. Stamkos lined up as the outlet, and Scheifele placed himself in scoring position. Once Stralman lost the battle for the puck, it nullified Stamkos, who had made the choice to contest the pass from Wheeler rather than sprint out toward Scheifele.
On the final regulation goal for the Jets, Winnipeg was once again cycling in the Lighting zone, and the problem again was Stralman being a step slow against the Scheifele line. Wheeler had the puck 10 feet inside the blue line in the offensive zone, and Stamkos and Yanni Gourde tried to challenge him but failed to close his passing lane to Dustin Byfuglien. Byfuglien was able to swat the puck to Ehlers down low, who found Scheifele in the slot for the powerful wrist shot. The puck missed wide, but Ehlers beat Ryan McDonagh to the carom and was able to push the puck into the open net. (In video above, goal begins at 3:35.)
The problems here are manifold. If the Lightning are going to overload on a player at the point, they need to make sure the puck does not slip through, like it did with Wheeler. Dangerous one-on-one matchups in the bottom half of the offensive zone are created when the Lightning forwards congregate toward one spot in the top half of the zone. Moreover, Stralman allowed for too much room between him and Scheifele, who is one of the Jets’ most potent scorers, and yet he had three-Mississippis-worth of time to smash a shot toward the corner. And McDonagh cannot allow Ehlers to get behind him on that rebound chance. It was Stralman’s first game back, but if he is going play against opponents’ top lines, he cannot let their snipers hover around the slot unfettered. His slow reaction triggered the game-tying goal.
The domino effect in hockey can be one of its most entertaining or cruelest elements (depending on who you are rooting for). One small error can lead to a chain reaction, with seismic consequences on the outcome. The storyline for the game was very nearly Mason Appleton’s inopportune too-many-men penalty that led to Nikita Kucherov’s power-play goal. The Lightning are so skilled that they have not needed a laser focus for all three periods for most games this season. But the Jets are a reminder that, against the league’s very best, attention to detail matters. Boxing out is a must. Always be cognizant of where the opposition’s best shooters are roving. The Lightning cannot overload at the point with impunity. Good teams penalize their opposition’s sloppiness. Last night was a reminder that talent alone doesn’t always provide salvation.
Tampa Bay Lightning Blogger • 
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