Meeting Defensive Goals: Since coming out of their four-day break at the end of November, the Lightning have played six games. They’ve allowed a total of just 12 goals in that span. Not coincidentally, they’ve won five of those six games.
Improving how they defended — especially during five-on-five play — was a point of emphasis for the Lightning this year. During the 2023-24 regular season, the Lightning ranked tied for 22nd in goals allowed per game (3.26). They ranked even lower in five-on-five goals for/against category (24th). In other words, they were a bottom third in overall team defense and five-on-five goal ratio.
These recent stingy defensive numbers track with how the Lightning have defended overall over their first 29 games. As of Wednesday, the Lightning are tied for 10th in team defense (2.90). Their 1.34 five-on-five goal ratio is fourth-best in the league and represents a marked improvement over last year’s .91 ratio.
While they’ve had some defensive clunkers this year — losses in Ottawa, Toronto, and Columbus come to mind — those subpar outings have been isolated. What’s been especially encouraging about this recent stretch is that the Lightning have strung together an extended segment of strong defensive play. And they’ve done it while traveling to Western Canada and Seattle and dealing with a rash of injuries.
It’s unreasonable to expect that any team will be buttoned up defensively every night. But the top defensive teams keep those hiccups to a minimum and are otherwise able to maintain a high standard over a lengthy period of time. Let’s see if the Lightning can keep building on what they’ve accomplished defensively over the first 29 games.
Glendening Line Hitting Its Stride: Over the past month, the Lightning’s line of Luke Glendening, Zemgus Girgensons, and Mikey Eyssimont has provided the team with valuable, impactful minutes. The three players are spending most of their shifts in the offensive zone, forcing the opposition to defend. They’ve chipped in some goals too. Eyssimont has scored three in the past 10 games, and Glendening opened the scoring in last night’s win over Columbus. But what’s been just as significant is how consistently they’ve dictated play. In Seattle last Saturday, the Lightning endured a rough opening six minutes before pushing back. That pushback started with a solid o-zone shift by the Glendening line. Eventually, Glendening and Girgensons went to the bench, but Eyssimont stayed out after dumping the puck into the Seattle end. His forechecking pressure resulted in a Seattle turnover and a Brandon Hagel deflection goal.
The Glendening line has been a big part of the Lightning’s aforementioned defensive effort because they’ve held a possession advantage. That’s kept the opposition attack quiet. Also, the line has been a driver of momentum. When the Lightning don’t have it — as was the case early in the Seattle game — the line has worked to reverse it. When they do have momentum, the Glendening line has helped them keep it.
Blind Squirrel Signing Events This Week: I’ll be on Ford Thunder Alley for two book signings this week. Pick up a personalized, autographed copy of Blind Squirrel before the holidays! On Thursday, the signing will begin at 4:30 PM. On Sunday, it’ll start at 2:30 PM. I’ll wrap up both signings shortly before pregame warmups.
