The bad news for the Tampa Bay Lightning is the power play continues to struggle early in the season, yet the good news is they are working on a two-game winning streak.
The Atlantic Division club will try to make it three straight Thursday when it hosts the Minnesota Wild in the middle of a three-game homestand.
From a man advantage standpoint, coach Jon Cooper’s squad, which has won back-to-back games after an opening night 5-1 pounding at the New York Rangers, cannot find the net at all despite good looks.
Last season, the Lightning ranked 17th on the power play, connecting on 51 of 246 chances (20.7%).
However, the club has yet to tally in a small sample size. The Lightning are 0-for-13, one of five teams entering Thursday’s action that has not scored with the man advantage.
“Better chances again tonight, but it would be nice to see one go in, no doubt,” Brayden Point said following his group’s 4-1 win over the Philadelphia Flyers to open the homestand.
Point, who scored a career-low 18 goals last season, netted his first this season off a tip from former Capitals and Ducks defenseman John Carlson, who has replaced Darren Raddysh’s cannon-like shot on the power play.
“He gets it through really well,” Point said. “He’s a very heads-up player. He understands he’s maybe not trying to score from there but trying to get a shot that can be tipped. Obviously, he’s played long enough to know how to do it.
“(Raddysh and Carlson) are obviously two different players who make different reads. But that’s not to say John doesn’t have a good shot. I mean, he can rip it, too.”
In the opener of a three-game road swing, Minnesota could not hold a two-goal lead after 40 minutes and lost 3-2 in overtime at the Buffalo Sabres on Tuesday.
“We got tested in some different areas on the first goal,” Wild coach John Hynes said. “We were running around some in the (defensive) zone on the second one. We just weren’t as sharp in the third on some coverages, even on (Tage) Thompson’s tying goal. We were just a little bit loose. … We just didn’t have the detail that mattered when they scored their goals.
“They do have some high-end offensive players, and when your details aren’t as good as they need to be, this happens. But it was a little atypical because we hadn’t been tested like that.”
Hynes was pleased that wingers Danila Yurov and Maxim Shabanov were able to score their first goals and put the Wild up 2-0 through two periods.
“I think they’re two guys we need to step up and play well for us,” said Hynes, whose squad has opened with a three-game point streak. “I think they have. They both had good training camps, good exhibitions and good first few games. It was nice to see them get on the board because they’ve had multiple opportunities in prior games and it didn’t go in for them.”
Dynamic left winger Kirill Kaprizov played in his 400th NHL game. According to NHL Stats, he ranks fourth in goals (233) and ninth for points (478) all-time among European players reaching that milestone.
Quebec Nordiques great Peter Stastny tops the list with 607 points on 214 goals and 393 assists through his first 400 games.
