Three Periods: Tampa Bay lights it up despite power outage; Ducks seek defense; NHL notes

Nicholas J. Cotsonika’s Three Periods column appears on Thursdays. This week’s topics include the Tampa Bay Lightning’s baffling power-play struggles; the Anaheim Ducks’ slump and defensive problems; plus notes on Ben Bishop, Andrei Vasilevskiy, Jonathan Drouin and Steve Montador.

FIRST PERIOD: Lightning scoring a lot, but not with the extra man

The Tampa Bay Lightning leads the NHL in goals per game at 3.22. Steven Stamkos is tied for third in the league in goals with 31.

The amazing part? They’ve done it without a decent power play.

They have scored 35 power-play goals, tied for 14th in the NHL. But they’ve had 207 power-play opportunities, the most in the league. So their percentage is only 16.9, ranking 24th overall. They have been especially inept lately, with only four power-play goals in their past 16 games.

The positive is that the Bolts are one of the NHL’s best 5-on-5 teams, and if they ever get the power play going, look out. But the negative is obvious.

“Without a power play going, that’s maybe three, four, five more wins throughout the year,” Stamkos said. “That’s going to make a big difference.”

That’s six, eight, 10 more points. The Bolts are tied with the Montreal Canadiens atop the Eastern Conference and Atlantic Division. But they’ve played three more games. They’ve played two more than the New York Islanders, one point behind in the East, and four more than the Detroit Red Wings, four points behind in the Atlantic.

How can a team with one of the premier goal-scorers in the game and so many other skilled players struggle with the extra man?

Why not station Stamkos in the left circle so he can one-time the puck with that wicked right-handed shot, the way the Washington Capitals do with Alex Ovechkin? If teams key on Stamkos, they still might not be able to stop him. At worst, they’ll leave someone else open.

Stamkos has eight power-play goals. He has scored as many as 24 in a season in the past. Ovechkin leads the NHL in goals (37) and power-play goals (17). The Capitals rank second on the power play (23.6 percent).

“Obviously I’m very familiar with taking that one-time shot from the side, and we haven’t had that set-up much this year,” Stamkos said. “So sometimes you get a little frustrated with …”

Pause.

“Obviously you want to shoot the puck and score,” Stamkos said. “But as a player, you have to do what’s asked.”

Lightning coach Jon Cooper is well aware of what the Capitals do with Ovechkin. But they do it because they not only have Ovechkin but four others who make it work. They have the right mix of players – from which way they shoot, to skill sets, to chemistry.

The Bolts don’t have that mix. Most notably, they don’t have a real power-play quarterback. They have Jason Garrison, who has a bomb of a shot, and they have Anton Stralman, a good passer, and they have Victor Hedman, a budding star. But they don’t have anyone who has mastered the art of the point – when to shoot it, when to pass it and how to do it. Sometimes you fire it. Sometimes you lob it. Sometimes you pump fake and dish it to a guy like Stamkos.

Cooper has tried different looks – four forwards and one defenseman, three forwards and two defensemen – and nothing has clicked.

“It is frustrating,” Stamkos said. “It kind of starts getting in your head a little bit.”

The emphasis now is on basic principles like getting traffic in front and the puck to the net.

“We’ve got talented players,” Cooper said. “I think our problem is a little bit, we don’t have a shoot-first mentality. We want to place the puck across the line, and ultimately in the end, it’s not going to work. It comes a little bit with skilled players, that they’re always looking to make the play. Sometimes the play’s not there. Don’t force it. Let’s do the blue-collar thing.”

SECOND PERIOD: Ducks are struggling defensively, and help is hard to find

On the wall in the Anaheim Ducks’ dressing room is a “core covenant,” 16 things they want to “do consistently,” 16 things they want to “hold each other accountable for.” No. 1: No excuses. No. 2. Great defense. “This,” the covenant says, “is the key to a successful season.”

The defense hasn’t been so great lately. The Ducks have allowed an average of 32.3 shots and four goals per game during a 3-6-1 slump.

Some of the issues:

— Dog days: On the first day of training camp, general manager Bob Murray said: “I don’t need any first places.” The Ducks had finished first in the Pacific Division in 2012-13 and 2013-14 – and second overall in the NHL in ’13-14 by a point – but had lost in the first and second rounds. Murray cared less about the regular season than about preparing for the playoffs.

Still, despite injuries and the mumps, the Ducks flew back into first place. Before this slump, they held a 14-point lead in the Pacific Division. Even now, the Ducks hold a nine-point lead. It’s February, and these aren’t the games they care about, and they aren’t exactly in danger of missing out on the games they care about. It’s no excuse, but it’s an explanation.

“I think it’s human nature, right?” said center Ryan Kesler, who brought up how his Vancouver Canucks built a big lead in 2011-12 and won the Presidents’ Trophy, but lost their edge and won only one playoff game. “You look at the standings, and you tend to start thinking about playoffs a little too early and maybe not put enough emphasis on these games coming up or certain games.”

— Details: The Ducks’ defensemen want to suck in opponents on the forecheck, make a pass and send the puck the other way. Their forwards want to pin opponents deep in the offensive zone and wear them down below the circles. They’re built to play a physical, grinding game.

They get into trouble when they get into track meets, and that’s what they’ve been getting into lately because of a lack of execution. They’re spending too much time in their end and breaking down too often.

“When our passes aren’t on the tape, when we don’t get out of the zone quick, we look slower than we are,” Kesler said. “When we’re getting out of our zone quick, when we’re using each other, when we’re trusting each other, that’s when we’re the most dangerous team in the league. That’s when we’re flying. We make other teams look slow.”

The Ducks had what Lovejoy called a “long, look-yourself-in-the-mirror practice” on Feb. 11 in Carolina, spending a lot of time going over X’s and O’s on the eraser board.

“There were a lot of questions, just sort of things that had eroded over time, and we’re doing our best to get back at it, get back to it,” Lovejoy said. “We’re not perfect yet, but I think that when we do figure this out, it’s going to make us a much better team.”

— Personnel: The same day Murray said he didn’t need any first places, he said he needed – or at least wanted – a defenseman. This isn’t 2007. The Ducks don’t have a Chris Pronger or a Scott Niedermayer.

They don’t even have a real No. 1 guy. They have Lovejoy, Francois Beauchemin, Eric Brewer, Cam Fowler, Hampus Lindholm, Josh Manson and Clayton Stoner. Sami Vatanen is out with an injury.

“When we won the Stanley Cup here, we had Pronger and Niedermayer, two very special defensemen,” said Murray in September. “That’s always in the back of my mind. Where is that guy on the back end that’s going to be that type of guy? But they don’t fall off the tree very easily. We’re trying to grow them here right now.”

Lindholm has perhaps the best chance to grow into a No. 1, but he’s still only 20. Fowler made strides last season but hasn’t made more this season. Vatanen might be the most skilled of the three but is too much of a one-way guy.

Murray looked into adding Johnny Boychuk before the season, when the Boston Bruins traded him to the New York Islanders. He kicked the tires on Tyler Myers before the Buffalo Sabres traded him to the Winnipeg Jets. The rental market is thin and prices are high, so if Murray wants to upgrade before the March 2 trade deadline, he probably will have to make a true hockey deal. Even then, where is he going to find a Pronger or Niedermayer?

THIRD PERIOD: Notes from around the NHL

— The Bolts’ Ben Bishop put up a .924 save percentage last season and was a finalist for the Vezina Trophy, which goes to the NHL’s best goaltender. He has a .912 save percentage this season. Though his play has slipped a bit, let’s put it in perspective: One, he set a high standard. “If Bishop had the numbers he did last year, he’d be in the Hall of Fame,” Cooper said. “Not a lot of goalies can do that consistently every single year.” Two, he faced fewer shots a lot of nights earlier. That’s an adjustment, and it affects percentages. Three, he has had a looser team in front of him lately with Matt Carle and Radko Gudas injured. “It’s going to make a big difference out there,” Bishop said. “It’s been quite a change having those guys out of the lineup the last couple months.”

— Bishop has been pulled twice recently, after he gave up three goals on nine shots Feb. 7 against the Los Angeles Kings and five goals on 34 shots against the St. Louis Blues on Feb. 12. But both times, he won the next game. “The one thing about Bishop, if you look at all the games, he responds,” Cooper said. “He comes back with a vengeance. I also think he’s growing into being a No. 1. A big part of that’s consistency.”

— Ideally the Lightning would have 20-year-old goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy starting in the American Hockey League instead of backing up in the NHL. But veteran Evgeni Nabokov didn’t work out as a backup, and he was traded to his former team so he could retire as a San Jose Shark, and Vasilevskiy played so well in the minors that he basically forced his way to the NHL. If he’s going to be in the NHL, he’s going to play a little so he has some experience in case Bishop goes down as he did prior to the start of the playoffs last year. “We’ve got to prepare ourselves,” Cooper said. “We’re not saying he’s going to take over for Bish, but he’s going to complement Bish for sure.”

— Ideally the Lightning would have 19-year-old Jonathan Drouin in the AHL, too. Drouin, the third overall pick in the 2013 draft, is too good to play in junior anymore, but he’s ineligible for the AHL because of his age and not good enough yet to play a large role in the NHL, at least on one of the best teams in the East. The 5-foot-11, 186-pound forward has struggled in a physical men’s league. Lately he has been on the fourth line. He has played 10:52 or less in each of the past five games.

— After hearing the news of Steve Montador’s death Sunday, Stephen Weiss watched an old video. Weiss and Montador spent three seasons together with the Florida Panthers, from 2005-06 to 2007-08. At a team golf outing, they played one hole of match play with cameras following them. They had a bet going, and they talked trash, and Montador won, and it was funny. “That’s a good memory I have of him,” said Weiss, now with the Red Wings. “That’s kind of how we were all the time, just always kind of teasing each other and it never really stopped.” It’s hard to accept Montador is gone at age 35. “It’s strange talking about it,” Weiss said. “Gonna miss him for sure.”

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