The Tampa Bay Lightning are set to go on a four-game road trip facing four of the NHL’s Original Six franchises. The trip starts on Monday, Jan. 20, against the Toronto Maple Leafs. The next night, they will take on the Montreal Canadiens before taking on the Chicago Blackhawks on Jan. 24. They’ll conclude the trip with a Jan. 25 game against the Detroit Red Wings.
This road trip is critical for the Lightning as they attempt to hold on to their playoff position. They face three teams fighting for a playoff spot, but the Lightning have not had much success on the road as of late. The team is now 1-5 in their last six road games, including getting swept on their West Coast trip earlier in the month. If the Lightning expect to have any kind of success on this road trip, there are three areas that they must focus on to achieve this success.
Lightning Key One: Avoid Slow Starts
It would be nice if head coach Jon Cooper and the Lightning could start all of their games like they did in their 5-1 victory Saturday (Jan. 18) over the Red Wings, especially since slow starts have been an issue recently. In their Jan. 14 loss to the Boston Bruins, the Lightning let the Bruins jump out to a four-goal lead before they scored twice in their failed comeback bid. Even in their Jan. 16 shootout victory over the Anaheim Ducks, they surrendered the first goal. Until these recent games, the Lightning were one of the best in the NHL in the first period, outscoring their opponents 48-33.
Victor Hedman addressed this issue in his post-game interview after the loss to the Bruins. “We’ve got to have better starts. We’ve got to make sure we start the game on time and put ourselves in a better position because it’s frustrating.”
Getting off to a good start, as obvious as it seems, is very important in playing the three playoff-contending teams (Maple Leafs, Canadiens, and Red Wings), but also against the cellar-dwelling Blackhawks. The Hawks have scored first in 26 games this season. While they have won slightly less than half of those games, they are a little better at holding on to an early lead at home, such as in defeating the Vegas Golden Knights on Saturday (Jan. 18).
Lightning Key Two: Backup Goaltending
With two back-to-back games on this road trip, the Lightning will need Jonas Johansson to remain solid in net, like he was in the Lightning’s Jan. 12 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins. Prior to that game, he had lost his previous two outings, allowing seven goals on 61 shots across those games. Johansson improved to 5-3-1 for the season with a 3.18 goals-against average and a .903 save percentage over 10 appearances.
It will be an interesting decision for Cooper on which goalie is between the pipes during this road trip. Toronto and Montreal both have seven wins in their last ten games. In terms of standings and statistics, Toronto is the strongest of the two teams, so Johansson may get the start in Montreal. However, in the next two games, Chicago, the next opponent after Montreal, is a far weaker team than Detroit. Could Johansson see back-to-back starts?
Whatever decision is made, the Lightning will need Johansson to be the goalie who made 36 saves in defeating the Florida Panthers in December and had a .966 save percentage in a three-game stretch that month.
Lightning Key Three: Special Teams
While the Lightning power play has been good this season, it was not at the level it was when they had the top-ranked unit last season. Recently, Cooper did some tinkering with that unit and early results look promising, even drawing praise after the game Saturday from Red Wings forward Patrick Kane. “They’re special players; pretty dynamic on 5-on-5. And when you give them some room on the power play, they’re able to take advantage of that. We’ve seen it for a bunch of years from their top guys and they continue to produce.”
One of the more notable moves is having Nikita Kucherov switch sides, going from the right to the left side of the power-play formation. Kucherov picked up his two assists on power plays, which also allowed him to pick up his 600th career assist, joining Victor Hedman in that elite company. The Lightning went 2-for-3 on the power play last night after going 2-for-5 against the Ducks, raising their man advantage up to 27% effectiveness. This is fourth-best in the NHL.
“A big blast from Raddysh! … That is assist number 600 for Kucherov!”
Raddy brings the boom 💥 off a milestone dish from Kuch!#DETvsTBL
🎧: https://t.co/S6Y9Tynk9H
📻: @1025TheBone pic.twitter.com/yxmM4dBcIc— Lightning Audio Network (@BoltsRadio) January 19, 2025
The penalty kill has also been solid, killing off penalties at an 82% rate, but it will be tested if Erik Cernak has to miss more time. He left the Anaheim game 34 seconds in and did not play against the Red Wings. Max Crozier was recalled from the Syracuse Crunch and had just over 14 minutes of ice time on 17 shifts. Without Cernak, the Lightning stepped up and stopped five of the six power plays that the Red Wings had, a trend that needs to continue if the Lightning expect success on this road trip.
Related: Lightning Mid-Season Report Cards: Third-Line Forwards
Long road trips are never easy, and having your four games scheduled with two back-to-back contests makes this an even harder trip. The Lightning are going to have to be at the top of their game to have any kind of success when this road trip against four Original Six franchises is finished.
