Plenty of components play into an NHL coach’s decision when it comes to the mixing, moving and matching that accompanies a gameday lineup card.
Some of it boils down to injuries, while other thoughts include matching an opponent’s strengths or exploiting their weaknesses. Occasionally, a player on the roster is playing so well that they deserve to stay in a certain spot. Sometimes it’s about not messing with a winning concoction of players and combos.
The Tampa Bay Lightning rolled out a lineup with 11 forwards and seven defensemen for the second straight game on Saturday, and in both instances the team left with a victory in matchups against two of the NHL standings leaders.
“Well it’s something we’ve used quite often, but it’s worked out,” Lightning coach Jon Cooper said of playing with 11 forwards and seven defensemen over the years. “We’ve played really well for two games against two really good teams.”
Cooper doesn’t often run an 11-7 formation for home games, but the Lightning opted for the look in the final two games of its three-game homestand this week while forward Brayden Point was out with a lower-body injury. The Lightning defeated the Winnipeg Jets 4-1 on Thursday before dismantling the New Jersey Devils 4-0 on Saturday.
“Do that more on the road, but (it’s) just the way I thought we could make things work,” Cooper said after Saturday’s game regarding the extra defenseman. “The guys did a heck of a job and surely makes you definitely pay attention. It’s a little different and harder to roll the lines when you have 11 forwards.”
Cooper acknowledged after Friday’s practice that utilizing a seventh defender is easier in the regular season, mentioning that a playoff game with five overtime periods would be a strain on a shortened forward group.
In the regular season though, it’s an option.
"For me, it has a lot of benefits,” Cooper said. “Also, for an opposing coach, it can be at times harder to match a team that's 11 and seven.”
Here is some simple hockey math—defensemen naturally see more ice time than forwards in a game because there are less defensemen on the bench. When teams add a seventh defenseman to the mix, it means opportunity and maybe some extra energy.
“The flow of the game is definitely slightly different, because pairings are switching up a little more often and on that side of things, that's different,” Lightning defenseman Nick Perbix said. “But at the same time, you have a little more energy to go get up on the rush when you have that opportunity, more energy to defend. So you’ve got to use that.”
Defenseman Victor Hedman said after Saturday’s win that the team is doing what it needs to in order to find wins.
"We've gone with that (11-7) and it's been working, so just happy with the way we’re playing in these games. We were really good with the puck and not turning pucks over,” Hedman said.
Less bodies up front also offers more playing time for the team’s offensive weapons in Nikita Kucherov—who has been in the NHL scoring race all season—and others.
"There's so many advantages to it,” Cooper said. "It probably hurts a little bit at times if you're really a strong matcher of lines, but it also helps where you can kind of squeeze some players in and give some guys some more ice time.”
The Lightning could stick with the 11-7 setup, or maybe they revert to the more traditional 12-6 split. Either way, knowing they can have success with either look brings confidence.
All seven defensemen on Tampa Bay’s roster have at least three points this season, so Cooper has options.
"It's good to know that we have seven reliable guys that can get put out in any situation,” Perbix said. “And everyone in the group has confidence in each other.”
