Raw Charge
Summary
With two non-game days in a row, the Tampa Bay Lightning had some time to work on the finer aspects of their game. Despite a vast improvement in most areas of their play after a disappointing opener against the Rangers, the goal total in the power play column remains a glaring “0”. After two seasons of repeatedly banging their heads into Steven Stamkos-less wall, it seems they are willing to explore a slightly different approach. At practice on Wednesday, the Lightning unveiled a new look: Changes to the #GoBolts power plays today, 2 defensemen on the top unit. Carlson on the left, D’Astous up top and Kucherov the right, Guentzel down low, Point in the bumper. Moser’s running power play two, Hagel left and Geekie right. Goncalves and Cirelli down low. [image or embed] — Benjamin Pierce ( @boltsben.bsky.social ) October 7, 2026 at 11:33 AM For most of Coach Jon Cooper’s tenure, the top power play unit has featured a single defenseman (Victor Hedman/Mikhail Sergachev/Darren Raddysh) and four forwards with most of the action filtering through Nikita Kucherov on the right half-wall. With the new alignment, he’s still going to have the bulk of the play, but moving John Carlson to the left (in Stamkos’ old spot) gives him another outlet. The drawback is that the one-timer from the point isn’t going to be as crisp. While it’s not what they’ve rolled out on a nightly basis over the last few seasons, the Lightning have tinkered with a right-shot defenseman in the left circle from time to time. Darren Raddysh had the honor of trying to fire off one-timers from that spot, and honestly, it wasn’t great. While Raddysh’s one-timer from the top of the circles created havoc, his shot from the left circle seemed to create mostly clears as he had some issues hitting the net. When a player cranks a 100 MPH shot from the circle and it doesn’t hit the net, it tends to roulette wheel its way along the glass and zips it way out of the zone. Carlson’s shot isn’t quite as impressive on the radar gun as Raddysh’s, but he does get it on net, which in this case, is what the Lightning want. The question is going to be how he adjusts from shooting from a different position on the ice. It’s a new look for him, and it could take a little time before he zeros in his radar. The one-timer option from the left circle isn’t the only benefit from having a right-handed shot in that spot. It also makes getting a rebound shot off easier and quicker. There were a couple of moments in the game against the Flyers where the puck made it over to that side of the ice with the goaltender scrambling and Brandon Hagel had issues getting into position to shoot. In theory, Carlson should have an easier time with that if the puck trickles over his way. If this new alignment works, opponents will have to respect the potential offense from both sides of the ice and spread things out a little. That should not only give Kucherov and Jake Guentzel more room on the right side, but also take a body away from the slot to loosen the blanket that has been smothering Brayden Point. More space for Point should lead to more goals. Even with the old configuration and all eyes on him early in the season, Point has seemingly had a little more room than he did last year. While he’s yet to connect, and only has two official shots on goal, his rates-per-60 minutes in scoring chances and high-danger chances is back to where he was a few years ago when he was one of the best power-play forwards in the game. (We acknowledge that the following numbers are based on a small sample size, but alas we move forward). Through three games, Point’s individual scoring chances is at 21.74/60 and his individual high-danger chances are at 12.42. Both of those numbers are a vast improvement over last year (18.01/60 and 10.01/60 respectively) and comparable when he was racking up 15 to 16 power play goals a season. It is interesting to see that the Lightning are entrusting Charle-Edouard D’Astous with the responsibilities of running the point position in the new alignment. One would think that Victor Hedman would slide into the spot, but it seems the Lightning are continuing to be cautious with his minutes early in the season. The good news is that D’Astous seems primed to be the ideal quarterback at the moment. The micro-stats from All Three Zones are based on his 5v5 play, but they point positively to the skills that the Lightning would want out of a player at the top of box. The one-timer assists category is one that stands out the most. He’ll have the option of setting up Carlson to the left or Kucherov to the right. He can also snap it on the net himself, and his shots tend to generate rebounds. All of those traits are what the Lightning want with the extra skater. The test for him will be making the correct decisions in a short amount of time to keep the defenders moving around and open up seams on the ice. Along with D’Astous, it appears J.J. Moser is the other big beneficiary of the revamped line-up. After racking up a total of 30:09 of power play ice time in his previous 136 games with the Lightning, Moser is set to pick up some time on the second unit. Of course, the Lightning’s second unit gets the barest amount of ice time, but it’ll still be more time than he is used to seeing. While it will be an all-lefthanded shot unit, that probably won’t be as big of a factor and they will have a more workman-like, get-the-puck-to-the-net style to it. Conor Geekie and Gage Goncalves will probably handle most of the playmaking responsibilities on that unit which should spread the defense a bit. Just because the Lightning ran some plays in practice doesn’t necessarily mean they’ll whip out the new look against the Minnesota Wild on Thursday. They are in a portion of the schedule that gives them a little more practice time (after Thursday they have two games in six days) so they might want to keep working at it before deploying it in a game. Still, the fact that they are trying something new indicates they at least acknowledge that trotting down the same path isn’t the way forward. Will it work out? Well, it will can’t get worse than 0-for-13