Stamkos goes off after rough start for the Lightning

After a historic regular season campaign in 2018-19, the Tampa Bay Lightning are again a popular choice to be the top team in the NHL in 2019-20. But, if they’re going to deliver on their potential, they’ll need to get to work ASAP. 

The powerhouse Lightning went 1-1-1 through the NHL’s first week and dropped an exciting OT game to the Carolina Hurricanes yesterday evening. 

After the game, Lightning captain Steven Stamkos took the opportunity to deliver a strong message to his team, essentially saying that they can’t rely on skill alone to win them games.

“We just continue to be the freewheeling team that thinks we can just come into games and win because we’re skilled,” Stamkos said after Sunday’s 4-3 defeat, per the Tampa Bay Times . “We keep falling back into the same old bad habits that we’ve been doing, that cost us the season we had last year.

“Unless we change things, it’s going to be a really, really, really long year.”

Next up on their schedule is a divisional matchup against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Thursday. Put up or shut up time, Stevie. Let’s go!!!