Thing is, in this ridiculously consistent runaway Year of the Lightning, they never had a so-called “schedule loss” this lopsided.
“Like today: How good we are when we play the right way,” said Victor Hedman, excelling in his top lefty-lefty pairing with young Mikhail Sergachev. “Tonight we really wanted to show them that’s why we’re the best team in the league,” Cedric Paquette said after a two-goal outing. But that’s a juicy as things got.
“They have a real good team, a veteran-laden team. They’ve done a good job keeping their players and acquiring more players. Obviously, they’ve scouted real good, so they could trade and get more players.”Kill your enemies with speed, skill and superior goaltending. Fuel your roster by graduating AHLers as talented as they are cap-friendly. Then splash the pot by adding difference-makers like Ryan McDonagh and J.T. Miller via trade.
lukefoxjukebox The difference is getting defensive minded defencemen. Something that Toronto fails at badly.