GDT: 11/16/15 - 7:30PM EDT - Tampa Bay @ Florida

[DFC]

What's wrong with a system that routinely holds opposition to 1 or 2 goals a night? if anything it's proof that the system works.

All this is proof of is how much we rode the TKO line to glory last year. Outside of them you had Stamkos, Killorn, Callahan and Filppula rountiely going anywhere from 2-5 games with 1 to 2 points or less. But no one gave a **** because the TKO line would combine for 15 points in that span of time. We'd smile as we would only give up a goal or two (like we do now) and say, "Oh it's okay the other lines will come around." And whenever someone like Boyle or Brown chipped in we'd lose our minds and scream "DEPTH!!!!!!!"

The players have no sense of direction or confidence because they forgot the will to win.

A lot more guys than TKO put points up last year.

We're holding teams to 1 or 2 goals per night, which would be great... except the system seems to have excluded goals-for from the plan.

I'm not saying we should go all run-and-gun. But we have to do something to try to generate the occasional odd man rush. Boyle scored breakaway goals last year. Kucherov and Johnson had a breakaway about every 3rd game. We were never a 100% forecheck team.

 

[Stammertime91]

A lot more guys than TKO put points up last year.

We're holding teams to 1 or 2 goals per night, which would be great... except the system seems to have excluded goals-for from the plan.

I'm not saying we should go all run-and-gun. But we have to do something to try to generate the occasional odd man rush. Boyle scored breakaway goals last year. Kucherov and Johnson had a breakaway about every 3rd game. We were never a 100% forecheck team.

Dmen used to jump up and make it 4, now, we dump it in and NOBODY has speed going into the zone. They throw it in, hesitate, then go for it. You can not run a dump and chase system if the players are not buying into it, it's clear that is not their forte on the forecheck. I'd rather go back to last year where we played with basically a hinge defense that was staggered, one was an option for a forward and the other dman was staggered in behind. This year we are like rec hockey taught by a coach in Brandon.

 

[These Are The Days]

The first 10-12 games of the year was about laziness. It's not anymore.

The other option is to open things up a little bit. Be willing, occasionally, to trade a chance or two. We're built like the 1985 Edmonton Oilers and trying to play like the 1995 New Jersey Devils. There's gotta be a happy medium.

We're not putting teams on their heels with our speed. By the time we break out, they're already set up and waiting for us. That's a coaching problem.

When you've lost as many 1-0 games as we have, you have to start taking a few risks. Coop/Bowness have been great at shutting other teams down this year, but we're being shut down in the process.

We had 39 shots tonight because it was a great effort. But again, was there a single odd man rush?

You can't put the coaches on blast (not that you in particular have DFC, you're always very sound in your reasoning) for the players being lazy to start the season. But now with Drouin routinely missing time, Palat being out for weeks and now Johnson being hurt, we pretty much have no other choice to go NJ Devils.

People have BEGGED for Cooper to adjust. This IS his adjustment.

We're in a "win 1-0" mode now but the offense can't figure it out. We scream our heads off at the players for their lack of execution all night and as soon as the horn sounds we want to fire the coaches.

All the other avenues have failed. When we tried to run it wide open we sat our duff and played the most complacent hockey in Lightning history. We were no better running a wide open scheme with a fully healthy team than we are now with half our top 6 missing.

Scotty Bowman himself couldn't fix this mess right now. A Lightning fan could reasonably put EVERY player on blast right now but Hedman, Vasilevskiy, Bishop, Brown (even though he can't score to save his life) Callahan (at times) Kucherov (about half the time) and be completely valid in their criticism

 

[Todd1a]

im not that worried myself but a fan of hockey for 30 some years and fan of detroit lions for as long lol

nothing is ever given or easy it must be earned

i am happy with our compete ive said you need three things in hockey skill heart and hockey gods puck luck.

right now we have wayyyyyyyyyyyy muju bad voodoo puck luck

i have been a detroit wings fan forever have watched them win the presidents cup dominate all year go to la or san jose or whoever and get tossed in four games on puck luck

so honestly to our board our fans etc.. this is not that bad of a thing id rather see this shiot now then when it matters for real in the playoffs

anyway this was brutal really at a loss of words to describe this game and vasi being the most underserving goalie ever on a loss lol

stralman struggled tonight at times pucks jumped on sticks we really hemmed it in their zone and had a lot of legit shots no puck luck whatsoever then we saw supremo puck luck for the panthers on that goal lmao

is ok it happens is part of all sports

the fan base needs to just be there no matter what is my two cents

watching the madness on twitter or something is very hard lol

i didnt read all your posts cause i get the drift of the fan base without it lol

i liked the russian line i am liking sustrs play for the first time in his career
jt brown was beasting

it was all there tonight and we lost unfairly you move on and hope for the best the next one
this was really one of our better games this year imho

miss seeing you still we need to get frenchy in here soon for some luck

It's beyond frustrating right now I'm just big time frustrated with this team right now. But I still love the Lightning always will.

 

[Flat Ronnie]

Because we're not the Devils. When you have a Ferrari in your garage, you don't brag about it's towing power.

This.

Especially since it's not working......in the win column.

 

[These Are The Days]

Dmen used to jump up and make it 4, now, we dump it in and NOBODY has speed going into the zone. They throw it in, hesitate, then go for it. You can not run a dump and chase system if the players are not buying into it, it's clear that is not their forte on the forecheck. I'd rather go back to last year where we played with basically a hinge defense that was staggered, one was an option for a forward and the other dman was staggered in behind. This year we are like rec hockey taught by a coach in Brandon.

Teams are just that much faster than us now. It's a testament to how poor we are.

Every time the D jumps in we just screw it up on a turnover. You saw Hedman try it tonight with a few minutes to in the game. The Panthers just walled him off and read the pass the whole way. Our whole offense is like that man. We can't even so much as cross the damn blue line without an offsides or complete a north-south pass without icing it.

Amazingly the ONLY guy other than Hedman and Stralman who will routinely make that risk to pinch in is Sustr. And he gets burned EVERY time by it. I'd say roughly 15% of his "caught out of position" plays are from him pinching and failing at it.

 

[Coopers Gum]

Know what I'm sick of? Know what I'm ****ing sick of? This:

Joe Smith ‏@TBTimes_JSmith
Stamkos: "No point in hanging our heads now. Not going to do anything for us. Got to keep working hard. Eventually it's going to turn."

"It'll get better eventually."
"This drought can't last forever."
"If we keep playing like this, I like our chances."

It isn't just Stamkos, it's Cooper, wohever the **** else says that. Obviously, things have not turned around. Make a new gameplan, the one we're using, the one that is losing us games, is doing nothing.

 

[DFC]

You can't put the coaches on blast (not that you in particular have DFC, you're always very sound in your reasoning) for the players being lazy to start the season. But now with Drouin routinely missing time, Palat being out for weeks and now Johnson being hurt, we pretty much have no other choice to go NJ Devils.

People have BEGGED for Cooper to adjust. This IS his adjustment.

We're in a "win 1-0" mode now but the offense can't figure it out. We scream our heads off at the players for their lack of execution all night and as soon as the horn sounds we want to fire the coaches.

All the other avenues have failed. When we tried to run it wide open we sat our duff and played the most complacent hockey in Lightning history. We were no better running a wide open scheme with a fully healthy team than we are now with half our top 6 missing.

Scotty Bowman himself couldn't fix this mess right now. A Lightning fan could reasonably put EVERY player on blast right now but Hedman, Vasilevskiy, Bishop, Brown (even though he can't score to save his life) Callahan (at times) Kucherov (about half the time) and be completely valid in their criticism

You'd be surprised what Scotty Bowman could do.

I'm not saying to fire the coach. I am saying he has to take his fair share of blame. Yeah, we were lazy for the first 10-12 games. I'm not saying Cooper should be held accountable for that. But now we're seeing good efforts. But we're also seeing some key ingredients of a good offense clearly missing. And that's on Coop. We shouldn't be in "Win 1-0" mode at all. We're not the '95 Devils.

I'm also not screaming at the lack of execution. I'm screaming specifically at the fact that we're so thoroughly committed to defense that it seems to have done the exact thing that Cooper believes it will never do, which is bite into our offense. We have to take risks once in a while. We took them last year. It made us a little shakier defensively, but we scored a lot of goals.

 

[Lord Stan 2020]

i call things like i see them
cooper was fine tonight last game not sooooo much i called the game a loss on his head

is no way he shouldnt have pulled bishop after three with two softies he couldnt stop a beach ball lol that game

so he did for a period and half somehow but shootout hes toast

so yes was that and other things on cooper in that game imho he should have done differently

everything though is a work in progress do i like everything cooper does hell no but as long as he is more often right then wrong then he deserves respect

this team ive questioned heart slow starts etc..

they are picking it up also know cooper has gotten into them

we are in a funk plain and simple we just need to keep supporting and hope this ends soon they are working hard we have had our chances

if they keep doing that good things will happen more often then not and hopefully soon

 

[Stammertime91]

Teams are just that much faster than us now. It's a testament to how poor we are.

Every time the D jumps in we just screw it up on a turnover. You saw Hedman try it tonight with a few minutes to in the game. The Panthers just walled him off and read the pass the whole way. Our whole offense is like that man. We can't even so much as cross the damn blue line without an offsides or complete a north-south pass without icing it.

Amazingly the ONLY guy other than Hedman and Stralman who will routinely make that risk to pinch in is Sustr. And he gets burned EVERY time by it. I'd say roughly 15% of his "caught out of position" plays are from him pinching and failing at it.

Teams have adjusted but it just seems like they clog us in the nutral zone so much, we can't stretch teams out at all. That and our speed got us to the final. 20 games in and they can't adjust, I'm not sure what they are eating or doing in practice, but you'd think this was a different team than what we saw in June. It's appalling.

 

[DFC]

Teams have adjusted but it just seems like they clog us in the nutral zone so much, we can't stretch teams out at all. That and our speed got us to the final. 20 games in and they can't adjust, I'm not sure what they are eating or doing in practice, but you'd think this was a different team than what we saw in June. It's appalling.

We're not attempting to adjust. We're not trying to sneak past the D. No one's ever blowing the zone. Yeah, these aren't things you want to do all the time, but it's not like our stretch passes simply "aren't connecting." We're not even attempting them because we have no one in the area code. By the time we're breaking out of the zone, our opponents have 5 guys back.

 

[Haj]

Florida fan coming in peace. I hate everything I am about to write.

After the game was over, I turned to a Tampa fan and told him that the Lightning should have won 3 or 4 to zero.

TBL dominated despite key players out of the line up. Luongo + puck luck is that caused TBL to lose the game.

TBL defused the Florida forecheck with good puck retrieval and break out. Transitioned from defense to offense very well.

Brian Boyle was a beast the entire game. Stamkos and Kucherov were dangerous. Kucherov in particular seems like a threat to either pass or shoot all the time. He understands how much space/time he has to make a play. Stamkos could have easily had two goals. Hedman made a few amazing rushes in transition.

I thought the power play lacked a little bit of creativity because Johnson and Drouin were out.

 

[The Macho King]

Florida fan coming in peace. I hate everything I am about to write.

After the game was over, I turned to a Tampa fan and told him that the Lightning should have won 3 or 4 to zero.

TBL dominated despite key players out of the line up. Luongo + puck luck is that caused TBL to lose the game.

TBL defused the Florida forecheck with good puck retrieval and break out. Transitioned from defense to offense very well.

Brian Boyle was a beast the entire game. Stamkos and Kucherov were dangerous. Kucherov in particular seems like a threat to either pass or shoot all the time. He understands how much space/time he has to make a play. Stamkos could have easily had two goals. Hedman made a few amazing rushes in transition.

I thought the power play lacked a little bit of creativity because Johnson and Drouin were out.

Appreciate the kindness - but I disagree. At some point, not scoring stops being "luck" and "other goalie playing like a Vezina-winner" and becomes something else. In the 20 games we've seen this year, I have to say it's something different.

We were shutout once in the regular season all of last season (and once in a bit over 100 games stretching back to the season before). We've been shut out what - 5 times this season?

 

[Flat Ronnie]

You play to your teams strengths, not strategize against it. The offense is by far this teams strength. We are one of the best teams in the league because our defense and goaltending are good enough to compliment the offense.

However, when you scheme a defensive, grind it out game, you are going against your strength.

No reason, absolutely no reason, a team with Stamkos, Kuch, Palat, Johnson, Drouin, Names, Boyle and Callahan should be shut out so often.

Just watch the games...the chances aren't even that great. Too much grind it out ****.

 

[The Gongshow]

At least last year after a tough loss they would come back angry and fired up, thats no the case this year.

 

[The Gongshow]

I will say that Vladdy - Stammer - Kuch actually looked pretty good at times, wouldn't mind seeing them again.

 

[FinnLightning26]

Know what I'm sick of? Know what I'm ****ing sick of? This:

Joe Smith ‏@TBTimes_JSmith
Stamkos: "No point in hanging our heads now. Not going to do anything for us. Got to keep working hard. Eventually it's going to turn."

"It'll get better eventually."
"This drought can't last forever."
"If we keep playing like this, I like our chances."

It isn't just Stamkos, it's Cooper, wohever the **** else says that. Obviously, things have not turned around. Make a new gameplan, the one we're using, the one that is losing us games, is doing nothing.

Agree. You keep waiting on it to turn around and you'll be golfing in April. Get angry. Smash you stick. Do ****ng something other than feel bad for yourself. It's not luck anymore at this point.

 

[CupsOverCash]

This game kind of summed up their season so far for me. Maybe I'm the only one who thinks this season has been kind of a fluke. No I don't think they have played their best but I also don't think they have played bad. Also think their competition has stepped up a bunch compared to how they were played last season. I trust this team to get out of this funk. I'm not worried yet.

 

[Sky04]

You play to your teams strengths, not strategize against it. The offense is by far this teams strength. We are one of the best teams in the league because our defense and goaltending are good enough to compliment the offense.

However, when you scheme a defensive, grind it out game, you are going against your strength.

No reason, absolutely no reason, a team with Stamkos, Kuch, Palat, Johnson, Drouin, Names, Boyle and Callahan should be shut out so often.

Just watch the games...the chances aren't even that great. Too much grind it out ****.

Completely agree with you (for once), play around our offense, not try to cover our defensive woes so hard that we nullify the offense. This team doesn't have the defensive talent to play best of both worlds.

Cooper has got his wish, the offense is sucked dry right now but at least our GAA is low.

 

[CupsOverCash]

Completely agree with you (for once), play around our offense, not try to cover our defensive woes so hard that we nullify the offense. This team doesn't have the defensive talent to play best of both worlds.

Cooper has got his wish, the offense is sucked dry right now but at least our GAA is low.

Why would he want his offense sucked dry? That makes zero sense. I see a team with plenty to offer offensively that just isn't finishing for whatever reason. They are too good offensively for it to happen all season long. Defensively they are playing as well as I have ever seen them play. Get that offense going then they are tough to beat. This is a team that scored the most goals in the league last year. They will come.

 

[The Gongshow]

You gotta think Yzerman is atleast considering his options and thinking about moving someone or multiple players around? He can't be happy with his team right now.

 

[Maelmoor]

Last year after 20 games we had 26 points, so 7 more..but also 73 goals scored and 57 against, now we have 46 goals scored and 49 against.

 

[dechire]

Glad I decided to skip this one. Hate that our goalies need a shutout just to pull a point out of games. I guarantee you that Vasy is more upset with himself over that one goal than the rest of the team is about forcing him into that position. Where is the accountability this year ?

 

[Iceman]

Thank god I went to bed after first period.

 

[AlphaCatalyst]

Our chance at defending the Governors Cup is slipping away.