##### Two: No (Well, Not Much) Rest for the Successful
Despite the loose and jovial visitors' locker room in Chicago, Kraken heroes such as Adam Larsson (he and defensive partner Vince Dunn were on the ice for all six first-period goals) and Jared McCann (his first-ever hat trick and is five goals away from matching his career-high 27 last season) were locked in on the week ahead.
"We've got a lot of games in a short span," said Larsson Saturday night. "We have 24 hours to rest now. Then we are right back at it with two tough opponents. We have to play better than second and third periods [against the Blackhawks]."
The "two tough opponents" are the Monday home matinee against Tampa Bay (.671 win percentage) and then a divisional road matchup Tuesday in Edmonton. Then Kraken face New Jersey (.686 win percentage) Thursday and defending Stanley Cup champion Colorado Saturday.
McCann naturally answered questions about his hat trick, the road trip sweep, and what is now an eight-game win streak that started at Climate Pledge Arena with a 4-1 victory over the New York Islanders on New Year's Day. All fun stuff to discuss with the media scrum.
"At the same time, we've got to move on," said McCann in Chicago. "We can't sit back like we did in the second period and [late] third period. We've got to focus on Tampa and Edmonton."
##### Three: Tampa Bay on Target to Seek Fourth Straight Stanley Cup Final
Though the Lightning are currently third in the Atlantic Division, they are, ahem, certainly within striking distance of second-place Toronto with three games in hand to make and surpass the Maple Leafs. It's all systems go for the TBL offensive attack with forward Nikita Kucherov (17 G, 45 A) only one assist behind Edmonton superstar Connor McDavid for the league lead. Brayden Point scored his 24th and 25th goals of the season in a 4-2 road win at St. Louis Saturday and the Kraken would like to avoid seeing captain Steven Stamkos score his 500th regular-season NHL goal (he has 43 more in the postseason).
Tamping down the foe's scoring attack by forechecking is a formula that worked on the wondrous road trip and it will be fun to hear Seattle-worthy noise Monday in appreciation of disrupting the Lightning's top players.
"When we check well," said Dave Hakstol before hopping on a plane home Saturday night. "We are hard to play against and we generate lots of offense."
