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Jon Cooper splitting up Lightning's Triplets line in search of new chemistry
Tyler Johnson, Nikita Kucherov and Ondrej Palat formed one of the NHL’s best lines last season producing 96 even-strength points together, per Dobber Hockey. They drew national attention in the Stanley Cup Playoffs when they helped carry the Tampa Bay Lightning to the Final.
But that was last year, and Tampa’s 6-5-2 start means head coach Jon Cooper is going to shake things up, which means bye-bye Triplets.
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It’s not the first time this season Cooper has split Johnson, Kucherov and Palat up, but doing so Sunday night in a win over Carolina worked, so why not try it again? As Joe Smith of the Tampa Bay Times notes, when the Lightning face-off with the Detroit Red Wings Tuesday night, it’ll mark the first time the Triplets have started a game apart from one another since the opening month of last season.
"Like I've said before, it's '15-16, not '14-15," Cooper said. "Our identity as a team is coming together in a different way than it did last year, we're trying to find that chemistry and for a couple periods last game we found that, so we're going to roll with that.”
Cooper’s right. Aside from the always daunting task of shut down Steven Stamkos, opposing NHL coaches have had an entire off-season to strategize exactly how to slow down the Triplets. So far, it’s worked. It took 13 games for Johnson to score his first goal of the season, and the line has recorded a whole three points together at even strength this season.
The Lightning aren’t starved for offense. Their 33 goals rank them seventh in the NHL. Their defense could use some work as their 34 goals allowed put them tied for sixth overall. The penalty kill isn’t helping either with a 76.9-percent success rate, the lowest since 2010-11 when it was 79.2-percent. This could just be a temporary move on Cooper’s part to try and wake up some parts of his roster.
While they were apart, Palat joined the top line with Stamkos and Ryan Callahan. The other two Triplets, Johnson and Kucherov, played with Alex Killorn. It’ll be interesting to see what Cooper does when Jonathan Drouin returns from injury, and if the continued development of the 2015-16 Lightning’s identity eventually leads to a reunion of the three.
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Sean Leahy is the associate editor for Puck Daddy on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Sean_Leahy
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