Time for the Lightning to Strike!

Playoffs time is upon us and for us Tampa Bay Lightning fans, expectations are high and anything but the Stanley Cup will make this season an utter disappointment. The team finished the season with the best record in the league and also tied the Detroit Red Wings record of most wins in a season. However, all of those accomplishments will amount to nothing if the Bolts fail to win the Stanley Cup. Moreover, failure to win the Stanley Cup will only further strengthen the whispers about  Lightning’s coach, Jon Cooper comparisons with another well-known coach in Tampa Bay Sport’s history, Tony Dungy, and will lead to calls for Cooper's head. 

There is a poor paraphrase of a line from one of William Shakespeare’s play that rings true today; “Expectation is the root of all heartache." Expectations are sky high for Lightning fans this season. Last year’s bitter playoffs exit to the Washington Capitals frustrated me and other Lightning fans. This was the second time in three season that the lost in the Conference Finals, the other being against the Pittsburgh Penguins, after reaching the Stanley Cup Finals in 2015. What made those eliminations so bitter was the fact that on both occasions, the Lightning lead the series 3-2 and yet failed to win one more game to advance to the Finals. Furthermore, both the Penguins and Capitals went on to hoist the Cup. 

After last year’s elimination, it was hard not to compare Jon Cooper’s shortcomings with that of another well-known coach in Tampa Bay sport’s history; former Tampa Bay Buccaneers coach Tony Dungy. Dungy had one of the best teams in the NFL but he could not get the team over the hump and guide his team to the Super Bowl. He was dismissed and his successor, Jon Gruden, coached the Bucs to the Super Bowl in his first season and won the big prize that many in Tampa Bay thought would never happen. A year later, the Tampa Bay Lightning won the Stanley Cup in 2004 under the coaching of John Tortorella.

Fast-forward to today and the Lightning are trying to reach the Finals for the first time since 2015 when they fell to the Chicago Blackhawks. Jon Cooper has been trying to return to the Finals again and after those two bitter eliminations to the Penguins and Capitals in recent history, this season felt that the promised land was within reach. Former General Manager Steve Yzerman has assembled a great team for Jon Cooper and Cooper has done a remarkable job of coaching the great talent at his disposal and made them contenders. This is one of the deepest teams that I can ever recall in Lightning history.

However, the Bolts are already down 2-0 to the Columbus Bluejackets who are coached by none other than John Tortorella. With the exception of the first period of this series, the Lightning have been outplayed and out-coached by the Bluejackets. Panic has already crept in the Lightning fan base and tonight’s game is a must-win for the Bolts if they wish to win anything this year besides the accursed President’s Trophy. It’s not uncommon to see teams rebound after being down 2-0 in a series; but it is not something that we have seen the Lightning do often in their history. Nonetheless, failure at this stage or in the Final will not erase doubts that Cooper is not the man to get this team over the hump. It’s time for the Lightning to strike or else it will be for whom the bell tolls for Jon Cooper and the Lightning.