Lightning Looking to Find Rhythm on the Power Play

After a 5-1 loss to the New York Rangers in their season opener, the Lightning have quickly turned the page with back-to-back wins over the Washington Capitals and Philadelphia Flyers, improving to 2-1 on the season.

Overall, the pieces seem to be working together. The one area the Lightning are still looking to get going is the power play. They’ve had a number of good looks through the first three games, but haven’t been able to turn those chances into goals.

"Do we deserve to be 0-for-13? We don't. But still, you wake up in the morning and we don't have a power-play goal," said Jon Cooper. "The good thing is we've won two of our three games, and we haven't had one. But we don't want this to go on too much longer because you take pride in your special teams. It's a slow start statistically, but they've had some good ones. It just hasn't got in yet."

John Carlson, who signed with the Lightning this summer, spent 17 years alongside Alex Ovechkin, helping make Washington’s power play one of the league’s most dangerous. Now in Tampa Bay, Carlson is getting the chance to work alongside another one of the league’s best in Nikita Kucherov.

“He gets it through really well,” Brayden Point said of Carlson. “He’s a very heads-up player and he understands he’s maybe not trying to score from there, but trying to get a shot that can be tipped. Obviously, he’s played long enough. He knows how to do it and he’s really good at it.”

Last season, injuries opened up an opportunity for Darren Raddysh on the power play, and he quickly became a key piece before signing with Toronto this summer.

“Two different players, so it’s two different guys that make different reads. That’s not to say John doesn’t have a good shot,” said Point. “I mean, he can rip it too, right? It’s just different and might take some time. But I think the last two games have been steps in the right direction.”

The Lightning are still figuring out what combination works best. On Wednesday, Jon Cooper moved Charle-Edouard D’Astous up to the first unit and shifted Carlson over to the left side. The move gives Tampa Bay another option, with Carlson’s right-shot allowing him to get the puck off quicker, giving the penalty kill less time to adjust.

“It's early in the year, and we don't get a ton of practice time, so you have to try different things,” said Cooper. “So who knows? Maybe this is something we'll go with. We're getting different looks, and you know (D’Astous) has had success up there. So I'm not saying we're going with it, but it's an option for us.”

D’Astous, who is in his second season with the Lightning after spending three years playing in Sweden and Finland, has always had an offensive side to his game. 

“We have such great players here, so getting a chance to be on power play number one is a pretty big opportunity for me,” said D’Astous. “I’m just trying to help bring pucks to the net and make good plays.”

The Lightning will have another chance to get the power play going Thursday night when they host the Minnesota Wild at Benchmark International Arena.