3 things to watch as Lightning return to play Thursday against Jets

The Lightning’s schedule has been weird. A preseason game was canceled by one hurricane, the home opener postponed by another. The team quickly was thrown into a stretch of 13 games in 24 days.

Now, it returns from a six-day break — a rarity this early in the season — to play the NHL’s best team.

The Lightning (7-6-1), who will host the Jets (15-1-0) Thursday at Amalie Arena, used the time between games to get in valuable practice and to get healthy from some early season injuries.

“There’s no question it was needed, in the sense that there’s a lot of guys’ bodies that needed a break,” coach Jon Cooper said. “It felt like we didn’t play forever, and then we played a whole bunch of games. So, it was good to get a little practice time in there.”

The Jets entered Wednesday leading the league in goals per game (4.56), fewest goals allowed per game (2.13) and power-play percentage (42.2%). The Lightning will have their hands full as they attempt to snap a four-game losing streak.

“Overall, we’ve been in every single game,” captain Victor Hedman said. “It would have been worse if we had been blown out in those games and losing. But we still have done some good things, especially early on in the first periods, and we’ve just got to make sure we carry that over throughout the whole 60 (minutes).”

Here are three things to watch as the Lightning return to play.

The curious case of Point’s status

The Lightning have been unforthcoming about the health of Brayden Point since he left the Nov. 3 game in Winnipeg after just six shifts. They have not been the same team without their top center.

Point, who scored a combined 97 goals over the past two seasons, was off to another strong start with eight goals, including a team-high five power-play goals, in 12 games. It would be a surprise to see him play Thursday.

Point would seem to have benefitted most from the time between games (defenseman Erik Cernak took a shot off his arm but has since returned), but he didn’t practice Wednesday after two days off. After missing two games last week, he did not practice when the Lightning skated on Saturday.

Point did return to practice Sunday at Amalie but was seen toward the end talking to the team’s head athletic trainers. Following Wednesday’s practice, Cooper said he had no update on Point’s status.

It certainly appears the Lightning are preparing to be without Point for at least the time being.

“Everyone’s got to elevate their game a little bit,” said center Anthony Cirelli, who has moved up to the top line. “Obviously, you’re never going to replace a guy like Pointer, so everyone just kind of step up and be a little bit better.

“But we all have that team mentality of every line, this is what we’re doing: we’re getting on the forecheck, we’re getting pucks to the net and getting bodies to the net and kind of grind our way. It doesn’t always have to be a pretty goal. We just have to start jamming away.”

Renewed attention to detail

A recent three-week stretch during which they made road trips of three and four games left little time for the Lightning to practice.

This week, coaches went back to basics along with an attention to detail. Considerable time was spent on special teams, and Sunday’s practice emphasized line changes, something the Lightning seldom do. Wednesday’s session ended with defensemen shooting past three-legged dummies to practice getting shots to the net with forwards setting screens in front.

One statistic that stood out during the first month was the Lightning’s No. 28 ranking in shots on goal (26.9 per game). So, they spent a lot of time focusing on that, especially after Cooper said his team was “overcomplicating an uncomplicated game” following its Nov. 7 loss to the Flyers.

“We’ve just got to get away from the overpassing,” Cirelli said. “We beat one guy, get it on net, no matter, just for right now until we get the mentality of outshooting teams and playing teams on their back end and zone time and stuff like that. Once we start getting pucks there, that’s kind of when our skill can take over and start making plays after that.”

An opportunity for Goncalves

The Lightning recalled forward Gage Goncalves from AHL Syracuse Wednesday, another sign the team is uncertain about Point’s status moving forward. For Goncalves, it’s an opportunity to show he can contribute to a bottom six from which the Lightning have seen little scoring punch.

Goncalves has done pretty much everything he can at the AHL level. Despite playing in only five of the Crunch’s 11 games, he’s tied for second on the team in scoring. During the break, he returned to Syracuse and had two assists Saturday against Cleveland.

He’s shown he’s healthy after his training camp push for a roster spot ended prematurely, and at Wednesday’s practice he played wing on the third line with Nick Paul and Mitchell Chaffee. Goncalves also manned the right circle on the second power-play unit.

It appears he will have a chance to show he belongs, especially since the only player in the bottom six who has scored a goal is 20-year-old rookie Conor Geekie.

“Right now, my body feels good,” Goncalves said. “So, to get extra games under my belt (in Syracuse), I think it just helps you get more into the game. You play in different roles down there than you are here sometimes, power play and everything. But yeah, just good to get more puck touches and more game-like situations is good.”