Chances there, goals aren't for Lightning through two games

A season after leading the NHL for scoring with 290 goals, more than any team in the league has netted in a season since the Washington Capitals scored 313 in 2009-10, the Tampa Bay Lightning are struggling to recreate that same scoring proficiency.
Through two games of the 2018-19 season, the Lightning have netted just two goals, one each in a 2-1 shootout victory Opening Night versus Florida and a 4-1 loss to Vancouver in game two. They rank next-to-last in the NHL for goals per game.
But the goals are coming Lightning head coach Jon Cooper feels, it's just a matter of getting a bounce or a break to open the floodgates.

"It's not because they're not trying," Cooper said during his team's morning skate Saturday at AMALIE Arena. "It's tough when you start the season and you only play two games in the first 10 days or so and you basically only have two goals to show for it. They're doing all the right things. They're just not going in right now. There's going to be games that we'll probably get five or six and maybe not have the chances that we've had in these first two (games). But you're puling for the guys here because I know they're working at it. We need to start filling the net."

Against the Canucks, the Lightning outshot their opponent 17-5 in the opening period and finished with 34 shots on the evening. But other than a Brayden Point rebound goal off a scramble in front of the net in the first period, the Bolts were unable to solve Canucks goaltender Anders Nilsson.
The key, they say, to getting more offense, is a commitment to doing the little things necessary to score: going to the net, battling in front, crashing the goal for rebounds. Not all goals are going to be spectacular. More often than not, it's the ugly ones that end up looking pretty on the scoreboard.
"I thought last game we started the game really well," Tampa Bay captain Steven Stamkos said. "It wasn't a bad game by any means in terms of our effort level and our compete and skating. We'd like to see guys get more involved in front of the net when pucks aren't going in. Everyone has a tendency to try to cheat the game a little bit, hope for a bounce here or there instead of let the play happen. When you don't score like we have in the first couple games, it's tough sometimes to just get back to the basics but it really is as simple as that. So we'll look to just get in front of the net, go to those areas tonight and just direct some pucks at the net."
That's easier said than done, though. Tonight's opponent is Columbus, and world-class goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky will be starting in net for the Blue Jackets, setting up a heavyweight goalie matchup between Bobrovsky and the Bolts' Andrei Vasilevskiy. Goals on both sides will be at a premium.
Of course, having written that, tonight's game will probably end up a 6-5 shootout. That's hockey sometimes.
"These guys are a good team, obviously a very elite goaltender in Bobrovsky and some very good skilled forwards," Stamkos said. "They had a big win [at Florida] last game. We've always had tight games. These guys are well coached. They have a structure that's set in place and they work extremely hard. We know their guys are going to sacrifice their bodies in terms of blocking shots. They have a very aggressive penalty kill, and elite forwards on their power play. For us, I think more so tonight, is hopefully get our power play back on track and go from there."

POINT IN THE LINEUP: There was a small concern Lightning forward Brayden Point might not play tonight versus Columbus at AMALIE Arena (7 p.m. puck drop). During Friday's session at the Ice Sports Forum, Point trained during the first power-play session but exited the ice before the second session and didn't return.
Saturday, Cooper confirmed Point would be in the lineup tonight. It will be interesting to see where he lines up, however. During Friday's practice, the top two lines were mixed up from the first two games with Yanni Gourde skating on the first line left wing along with Stamkos at center and a rotating cast of Ryan Callahan, Danick Martel and Cory Conacher at right wing, presumably the spot Point will take when he returns tonight.
The second line saw the reappearance of the Triplets with Ondrej Palat, Tyler Johnson and Nikita Kucherov combining together.
Certainly, it would appear the Lightning are pulling out all the stops in hopes of improving on their one goal a game average through two games.