Do the Tampa Bay Lightning’s early power play woes even matter?

The Tampa Bay Lightning opened their season going 0-for-10 on the power play across their first two games. They went 0-for-7 against the New York Rangers on opening night before going 0-for-3 in a Saturday victory over the Washington Capitals. Despite the slump, Lightning head coach Jon Cooper described the unit's play against Washington as "outstanding," arguing that the team simply had bad statistical luck.

Harrison Smajovits argues that while the team's power-play conversion has statistically declined over consecutive seasons, the early struggles may not derail their success. The writer notes that general manager Julien BriseBois built a stronger 5-on-5 roster to compensate, backed by strong penalty killing and goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy, meaning the team can overcome special-teams dips as long as they continue winning.