GDT: 12/22/18 - 10:00PM EDT - Tampa Bay @ Edmonton

[These Are The Days]

The guys are gonna TRASH that plane on the way back. Holy crap

 

[JDBolt]

We still have games before 2019 though so a little early to say that...?

I'm guessing the "calendar month" is referring to 30 days ago until now, instead of the month of December..

That is a confusing way to show that stat though, I agree.

Actually, after looking at it, we would still need to beat Philly for that to even be true, since we lost to Anaheim on 11/27..

 

[Master P]

Someone had themselves a night.

 

[DFC]

Remember how, in years past, getting behind in games used to feel like playing with fire? It just doesn't feel like that now. Now it's more like, "Whatever, we're eventually gonna score 6 anyway."

 

[Stormbreaker]

 

[Mikeaveli]

I was there live! It was an entertaining game, for me at least lol. The crowd was absolutely dead aside from a few minutes after the Draisaitl goal.

 

[LightningStorm]

Nice win tonight. Definitely a high note to go into the Christmas break with 7 of 8 possible points on this Western Canada road trip. 3rd time in his career that Stamkos has scored 12 goals in a month, and first since March 2012. Let's hope he can keep this hot streak going after the break!

Merry Christmas everyone!

 

[Lightning1995]

When the Oilers took a 1-0 lead I shrugged. At 2-1 I yawned. Point amd Guorde can’t find the back of the net suddenly yet the team is scoring 5+.

With Stammer filling it up like it’s 2012 the depth on this team has hit a new level.

 

[Rschmitz]

Fun fact, if you bite down on your tongue and say Chiarelli you end up saying Cirelli.

 

[T REX]

Merry Freaking Christmas! Stammer continues to poke me in the eye with his play. Thank you Stammer, thank you.

 

[DFC]

Nice win tonight. Definitely a high note to go into the Christmas break with 7 of 8 possible points on this Western Canada road trip. 3rd time in his career that Stamkos has scored 12 goals in a month, and first since March 2012. Let's hope he can keep this hot streak going after the break!

Merry Christmas everyone!

It feels surreal to have this version of Stamkos back. He's now officially on pace to crack 40 again. Scoring at ES too. This makes us so ****ing dangerous. And, as a guy who called Stamkos his favorite player when he first became a Lightning fan, it just flat out feels good to see him get his career back on track.

 

[SRQKiter]

Remember how, in years past, getting behind in games used to feel like playing with fire? It just doesn't feel like that now. Now it's more like, "Whatever, we're eventually gonna score 6 anyway."

I do. We've become so used to it that I wonder how we're all going to react the next time it doesn't happen.

 

[These Are The Days]

I do. We've become so used to it that I wonder how we're all going to react the next time it doesn't happen.

Spoiler: it's gonna be BAD if it happens a few times

 

[JoVel]

Spoiler: it's gonna be BAD if it happens a few times

I suspect we'll have similar second half as last year. People will be disappointed when we don't win 9 out of 10.

 

[SRQKiter]

When the Oilers took a 1-0 lead I shrugged. At 2-1 I yawned. Point amd Guorde can’t find the back of the net suddenly yet the team is scoring 5+.

With Stammer filling it up like it’s 2012 the depth on this team has hit a new level.

Not that it was personal between them one bit, but a month + ago when ALL the talk in TB was about Point and how it was becoming his town, you think that didn't light a fire in Stammer?! He takes pride in that "C" and that TB is his town and he's not quite ready to give it up.

 

[SRQKiter]

I suspect we'll have similar second half as last year. People will be disappointed when we don't win 9 out of 10.

I don't expect us to keep this up but it would be disappointing if we don't have a better second half than last year. I don't think Vasy will have the same kind of let down and I think our D is more solid so we'll see fewer mini losing streaks. And hopefully our PK won't go totally in the tank. In general, this team has an overall more confident air about it.

 

[DistantThunderRep]

That will be disappointing. I don't expect us to keep this up but also don't expect Vasy to have as poor a second half as last year and I think our D is more solid so well see fewer mini losing streaks. This team has an overall more confident air about it.

Wasn't our biggest losing streak last year 3 games? I can take a losing streak like that, what I can't handle is piss poor effort in those three games.

 

[These Are The Days]

I suspect we'll have similar second half as last year. People will be disappointed when we don't win 9 out of 10.

I don't think it's going to be that bad. But 3 weeks of sleepwalking in February with .400 hockey? Yeah it's not gonna be pretty. No one is going to really care about what happened in Christmas

 

[SRQKiter]

Wasn't our biggest losing streak last year 3 games? I can take a losing streak like that, what I can't handle is piss poor effort in those three games.

Yes, three games was the longest but we just didn't look good for a couple of months. And our PK was garbage as was our ability to close out games without giving up late goals or major pressure from opponent. We were embarrassing when teams pulled their goalie. We couldn't get the puck out of the zone and forget scoring an empty netter. I don't think we'll see that this year. Hope not anyway.

 

[DFC]

I suspect we'll have similar second half as last year. People will be disappointed when we don't win 9 out of 10.

I kind of think so too. I mean, it seemed like last year we built a huge cushion and then let off the gas. We're building another cushion, even more impressively, all things considered (Vasy injury), so it wouldn't shock me to see us turn the volume down a bit in the second half. Looks like we've started resting vets too, which is a good plan, IMO.

 

[Five Alarm Fire]

I'm not too sure about us slowing down. Point/Stralman/Paquette/etc still are on contract years, Jospeh/Cirelli are still highly-motivated rookies, there are other guys fighting for spots on the team. Maybe the core guys slow down, but I think Stamkos is having the most fun playing hockey in his life (Johnson as well, to a lessor extent), and Kucherov has the ability to put up points in his sleep.

 

[Rschmitz]

Competition for points gets much tougher in March and April. Even if there is no drop off in play, keeping pace is tough

 

[Hoek]

I kind of think so too. I mean, it seemed like last year we built a huge cushion and then let off the gas. We're building another cushion, even more impressively, all things considered (Vasy injury), so it wouldn't shock me to see us turn the volume down a bit in the second half. Looks like we've started resting vets too, which is a good plan, IMO.

This fast start feels different than last year's. It felt like last year was based off of sheer effort, playing their balls off after the embarrassment of missing the playoffs. This year it's been much more methodical and they're just executing really well and exploiting their depth, so there may not be as much to let off on the gas.

 

[These Are The Days]

This fast start feels different than last year's. It felt like last year was based off of sheer effort, playing their balls off after the embarrassment of missing the playoffs. This year it's been much more methodical and they're just executing really well and exploiting their depth, so there may not be as much to let off on the gas.

Agreed, they are playing angry this year. Not "Slapshot" angry but more like no matter how many heads you cut off the dragon it just grows three more and scores 6 goals on you.

It reminds me so much of those Sabres and Senators teams from 2005-2007 where if the Pizza line and any of Briere, Vanek or Drury didn't get you it was Schaefer, Fisher, Havlat, Vermette or Roy, Pominville, Kotalik, Afinogenov.

It was just stupid how deep they were

 

[Rschmitz]

This fast start feels different than last year's. It felt like last year was based off of sheer effort, playing their balls off after the embarrassment of missing the playoffs. This year it's been much more methodical and they're just executing really well and exploiting their depth, so there may not be as much to let off on the gas.

This year definitely feels different