from Travis Yost of TSN,

... most interestingly are the Tampa Bay Lightning, a team that’s been beating the doors off of everyone at even-strength this year. Recall that the Bolts currently sit second in Score-Adjusted Fenwick% at 53.9%, which is highly indicative of sound future performance, with two dominant lines. It’s not a team we would ever expect to struggle on the power-play or penalty kill, but they have struggled; mightily.

Make no mistake, this is an area of significant concern for Jon Cooper’s team. Their -35.7 per 60 shot differential at special teams would be the worst number of any playoff club in the analytics era, which stems back to the 2007-2008 season. In fact, only four teams – out of 112 who have made it during this ‘era’ – have posted negative shot differentials in the double digits. None were even close to Tampa Bay 2014-2015. And, it’s not as if either unit is worse than the other on this front – the power-play is ranked 30th in the league, the penalty kill 29th.

Tampa Bay’s even-strength dominance is very much a trump card, and the fact that Steven Stamkos and Ben Bishop are two fantastic special teams weapons is obviously notable. Still, their individual skill may not be able to cover what seems to be an obvious systemic flaw – especially when the competition stiffens.

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