I'm looking up and down all the proposed lineups and I must admit I feel great. During that Cup run it felt like we were indestructible at times and a team of destiny and going forward I like our chances at another deep playoff run. But I fear a few potential weaknesses to our team, all but one of which is in our control.
If we sustain injuries to key players I think we could tumble down the standings in a hurry. Can you imagine the team without Ondrej Palat for 2 months? People say "you can't use injuries as an excuse" to which I counter with "********" let's see what we look like if Stamkos, Palat, Stralman and Boyle go on the IR for 3 months.
The Lightning would have been dead in the water against a healthy Penguins team in 2010. No Crosby, no Malkin no chance. We were down 3-1 in the series in a blink. I stand by my thoughts that they would've swept us had their stars been healthy.
I'm also wary about the goaltending because it had been our Achilles heel for so long. Tortorella said it best in the Ottawa series in 2005, "I'm tired of the 25% rule. Someone needs to make a save." For a while I got used to that as our standard of goaltending until Bishop came along. For as solid as he's been, it has been such a great reason as to why we've gone to new heights as a franchise. Bishop was oftentimes terrible in some moments but there when we needed him most in others. Needless to say we need him to continue that. If he doesn't then I don't like our chances of doing better than about 40 wins. Especially if we have to put Vasilevskiy into a position where he has to be the savior of the team before he's ready. Andrei did great when called upon but groom him for the job, not thrust him into it.
Our powerplay was absolutely horrific for most of the season and it amazes me how we could tumble into the 20-25th overall in the league, go on a hot streak for about 5 to 7 games then we are back up to 15th until we tumble back into the 20's again after another dismal 10 game stretch. We were easily one of the best in the league at even strength and if we have another ice cold power play I think we're going to see a lot of nights where we fall short. I don't think our 5 on 5 magic is unsustainable but when it accounts for 80% of your total offense you'd hope that your special teams would pitch in a little more. We are going to have some brutal stretches of play this year and we need to be able to make the other team pay when we have the chance.
The other lines outside of the TKO connection are going to have to pull their weight. Like REALLY pull their weight. Somehow or another the most dynamic line in hockey managed to stay a secret all year and I'm sure somewhere in Detroit a group of mad scientists is gathering together to figure out the formula on how to stop them. God help us if they do. Stamkos had a horrible year because he and his linemates would go in and out of cold streaks for half a dozen games at a time. The dysfunctional PP had a lot to do with Stamkos' drop in production too. I think we are in luck because I personally think the TKO connection is too damn good to be stopped on a night-to-night basis... it would be in a 7 game playoff where you have 2 weeks to figure it out and come playoff time we could have everything going for us but if the TKO stopped producing I fear we'd lose a series.
I don't really know what to think guys. I really don't. I'm cautiously optimistic because this is a Lightning team that (on paper) is even better than last year's team with the permanent additions of Vasilevskiy, Coburn and Condra. Hell I think this is probably the best Lightning lineup of all time. But I'm worried that the situation is more fragile than we really realize and if a few things go wrong it could wreck our whole season.
We're either a 52-22-6 team for 110 points +60 in differential and finishes 1st in the East or we're a 40-30-12 team that's -10 in differential and VERY painfully rakes in 92 points for the whole season due to the woeful under-performance of Ben Bishop, the 18th* ranked power play and the NHL figuring out the TKO line.
Anything in between will usually get you a playoff spot but I'm worried there won't be an in between. Maybe I'm just nervous but after looking at our schedule (not that it's any harder by strength of schedule than the rest of our division) is comprised with all the long road trips, the back-to-backs, the random one and two game home stands just to turn around and go back on the road..... We're in for a LONG one. The pains of playing in the Atlantic Division are finally out in full force.
*- we actually spend about 75% of our season being ranked around 25th overall but on a random hot streak near the end of the season we score PPG in bunches and artificially inflate our statistics
You and Brie
Game 5 New York Islanders @ Carolina Hurricanes - Carolina leads series 3-1Wagers: 9Staked: $5,164.00Event closes
