Kukla's Korner Hockey

Kukla's Korner Hockey

Last Year Still On The Minds Of The Tampa Bay Lightning

10/20/2019 at 10:01pm EDT

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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About Kukla's Korner Hockey

Paul Kukla founded Kukla’s Korner in 2005 and the site has since become the must-read site on the ‘net for all the latest happenings around the NHL.

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