Tampa Bay Lightning<\/a> have been bumped from the playoffs in the first round. The lack of perceived progress is unsettling for a fan base that knows this team isn\u2019t getting any younger.<\/p>\nBut I want to provide some perspective because losing in the first round probably is not the issue.<\/p>\n
In 2023, they played a 111-point team after coming off three straight runs to the Stanley Cup Final.<\/p>\n
In 2024 and 2025, they ran into the eventual champions.<\/p>\n
Then this year, played an opponent where 96% of the series was played within a one-goal margin.<\/p>\n
The issue is not losing in the first round. That argument is directed at the NHL for having a playoff system where the No. 3 and No. 4 teams in the East can meet immediately, while another part of the bracket has the No. 7 and No. 8 ranked squads squaring off.<\/p>\n
The issue is, after four years, they have proven they are not good enough to win the East.<\/p>\n
This year was not a talent problem, though missing Victor Hedman and having a shell of Brayden Point are part of it.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In my opinion, it is more of an identity crisis.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Lightning spent this entire season trying to prove they were not going to be pushed around after what happened recently with the Panthers. They fought team after team after team during the preseason and regular season. They set the tone for the playoffs. At the beginning of this Montreal series, they played that villain card again, but is that really who they are, or are they trying to be what they once were before Florida flipped the script?\u00a0<\/p>\n
After Game 1, Montreal led in the hits category for every other game in this series. They outhit Tampa Bay by more than 70.<\/p>\n
What about blocked shots? Montreal won that category by more than 25.<\/p>\n
For a team that constantly searched for fights, they could rarely be the aggressor in games. They ended the season failing to lead in a 1st period for 22 straight matchups.\u00a0<\/p>\n
They were one of the best teams in the NHL in terms of comebacks. That\u2019s an important trait to have, but it takes a toll on you when you constantly need a punch in the face to get into the next gear.\u00a0<\/p>\n
As tight as this series was, the Bolts led for less than 30 total minutes.<\/p>\n
Dating back to 2023, if we ignore empty netters, 16 of 23 Lightning playoff games were decided by a goal.\u00a0<\/p>\n
They are 4-12 in those matchups. This is a franchise constantly losing by the thinnest of margins.\u00a0<\/p>\n
When the puck isn\u2019t bouncing your way and the Hockey Gods aren\u2019t in your corner, the team has to ask itself if it\u2019s making enough deposits into the bank to get a lucky break or two?<\/p>\n
Then there is the home playoff record.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The team has won twice\u00a0in their last 14 games.\u00a0<\/p>\n
That is unthinkable. Unacceptable.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Game 7 was a tremendous effort with an unfortunate result, but not many of those other losses get a similar excuse.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Bolts were well aware of that terrible home record entering this season and proceeded to lose 14 games in regulation, a tie for the most in the last 15 years for this franchise.<\/p>\n
On paper this team is Stanley Cup caliber. Statistically and analytically one of the favorites for a reason. This group was ravaged by injuries, had a large chunk of its roster play in the Olympics and still were a sniff away from winning the Atlantic.\u00a0<\/p>\n
They absolutely should be in the Cup conversation again next year.<\/p>\n
This isn’t about character, it’s about callous and giving more in the playoffs when it matters the most.<\/p>\n
The Bolts can\u2019t be chasing the ghost of what they were, they have to develop a new identity and a new route to winning a championship. Not the formula Jon Cooper and his players figured out half a decade ago.<\/p>\n
When I walked out of that locker room last night, that was a stunned group of players we talked with.\u00a0<\/p>\n
That\u2019s not a bad thing.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In 2019, the Lightning were at a loss for words after that first-round sweep to Columbus. It forced many to recalibrate their thinking entering the following year.<\/p>\n
After a playoff exit, the finger-pointing always begins. Kucherov, Vasy, Cooper, etc. If this was just about one individual, the solution would be easy. But the answer to this problem is much deeper than that.<\/p>\n
This was Andrei Vasilevskiy after the Game 6 win in overtime.<\/p>\n
“I’m pretty sure you’re all aware for our overtime record. To me, it’s hard to be frustrated when you don’t have any expectations in overtime. We won, so I’ll take that.”<\/p>\n
Does that sound like a guy who expects the best or the worst to happen to his team?<\/p>\n
Julien BriseBois has to tinker with the roster construction, that\u2019s a given after every year, but there\u2019s also something not in the box score he has to figure out.<\/p>\n
This is a franchise of perennial playoff winners who have been anything but that in the last four years.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Tampa Bay Find-a-Ways have lost their way.\u00a0<\/p>\n
They have to figure out who they are in 2027.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Discovering their identity is the key to creating the next iteration of Lightning champions in the not-so-distant future.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After losing in the first round of the playoffs in four straight seasons, the Tampa Bay Lightning must…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":258805,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[135,137,136],"class_list":["post-258804","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tampa","tag-tampa","tag-tampa-headlines","tag-tampa-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/258804","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=258804"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/258804\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/258805"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=258804"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=258804"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=258804"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}