On Monday, the Tampa Bay Lightning made a roster move, sending forward Conor Geekie to the Syracuse Crunch and recalling left-shot defenseman Charle-Edouard D’Astous.
Geekie, who’s expected to take on a top-six role in Syracuse, was the only healthy, waiver-exempt player on the roster. With forward Zemgus Girgensons set to return from injured reserve, Geekie’s ice time in Tampa Bay would have likely become limited.
The roster adjustment comes as the Lightning look to find their rhythm early in the season. After dropping five of their first six games, they find themselves in an unfamiliar position at the bottom of the Atlantic Division. If history tells us anything, that’s going to change.
At TGH Ice Plex, Jon Cooper has kept practice physical, and fast-paced from start to finish.
“A lot of it was pace and execution,” Cooper said of Tuesday’s practice. “That’s the big thing. And pace and execution happen without the puck as well. So something we were trying to emphasize.”
The Lightning played back-to-back games on the road last weekend against Detroit and Columbus. In both matchups, there were glimpses of the team they were last season, but they struggled to sustain it for long stretches.
In Columbus on Saturday, they spent much of the second period pinned in their own end, making it difficult to generate any rhythm or sustained offense.
“We were a little disjointed on the ice, not as connected as we want to be,” defenseman Ryan McDonagh said. “In that aspect, it can make us look like we’re playing slow. When we play with pace, we look faster than our opponent. We’ve just got to find that urgency and execution a little more consistently.”
“We haven’t gotten a lot of shots or generated a lot of offense,” McDonagh added. “When you do that, you end up playing in your own zone a lot. We’ve got to take pride in being hard to play against in our own zone, and try not to spend as much time there. That way we can go on fresh within our shift and go on the attack.”
The Lightning were among the league’s top teams in nearly every statistical category last season. Their defensive system hasn’t changed, and aside from a few adjustments, the roster is largely the same.
Heading into Thursday’s home game against Chicago, the focus is on executing through three complete periods of hockey.
“If you've listened to me over the years, consistency is the key,” said Cooper. “If you can play consistently well, you're not going to win every single game, but you're going to give yourself a chance and usually have positive results.”
“I thought there were some periods of brilliance, and some periods, not so much. We’ve got to start erring on the side of brilliance more than the other.”
The Lightning will open a three-game homestand Thursday against the Chicago Blackhawks at 7pm.