from Chris Johnston of Sportsnet,
Jon Cooper calls it the elephant in the room.
The shock of last year’s 62-win regular season and subsequent four-game sweep by Columbus in the first round of the playoffs.
That’s why the Tampa Bay Lightning coach hasn’t shied away from discussing the heart-breaking 2018-19 campaign — both behind the scenes with his players and during media scrums. He recently told reporters: "I’d be lying if I didn’t think there was a burden carried over."
Tampa is off to a ho-hum start: 4-3-1 following Saturday’s 6-2 loss to smoking-hot Colorado. These are still very early days, but the Lightning have been outshot, out-chanced and out-attempted at even strength. They are not nearly as dominant on specialty teams, either, scuffling along at a 70 per cent penalty kill rate after losing trusted soldiers Anton Stralman and Dan Girardi in the off-season.
The results don’t scream powerhouse just yet.
more plus othet topic which were mentioned on Saturday Headlines, including the Leafs may have cap issues soon...
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