Lightning back to winning ways but realize there’s still much to prove
Winning breeds confidence, and it’s clear the Lightning’s four-game streak has them feeling a lot better about themselves.
A week ago, they were sitting in the Eastern Conference cellar with just four points in their first seven games. Before Friday’s games, they were just percentage points out of a playoff spot and only four points behind the Atlantic Division leaders.
They put their early season struggles in the past with wins over quality Western Conference opponents Anaheim, Vegas and Dallas, all by one goal and two in overtime. And it seems they aren’t taking their success for granted, realizing it took this winning streak just to get them above .500.
“I think it’s just that you can’t be satisfied,” center Brayden Point said. “We had a rough start and we’ve won some in a row here, but it’s not like we’re out of the woods yet by any means. It’s still early in the season, but it’s just continuing to build and not be satisfied with the little stretch we had.”
The Lightning (5-4-2) will board a plane Saturday and head to Salt Lake City for the start of a challenging three-game, five-day trip to Utah, Colorado and Vegas.
“We’ve got to hit the road and continue to build on this,” left wing Brandon Hagel said after Thursday’s 2-1 overtime win over the Stars. “Obviously, yeah, it’s four, but it doesn’t stop here. It’s just one day at a time and a couple of good days of practice and hit the road and go be some road warriors.”
After Thursday’s win, coach Jon Cooper called his team’s struggles “water under the bridge,” suggesting for the second time this week that their preseason might have played a role in their slow start. The Lightning’s regulars didn’t get much playing time together, and those who were dealing with physical issues rested up for the opener.
Playing the Panthers in the last three exhibition games, didn’t help, either, especially when the Lightning’s second-to-last game became a glorified fistfight on ice and only a few regulars played in the finale, which typically is treated as a dress rehearsal for the opener.
After Friday’s practice, Cooper walked that statement back a bit.
“I’m not blaming the start on anything but ourselves,” he said. “If you’re going to start conjuring up contributing factors, I’m sure that’s a contributing factor. I mean, it ends there. It’s not that be-all, end-all on why we started slow.”
Ultimately, the main factor in the Lightning’s reversal of fortune is that they’ve taken a lot of the risk out of their game. They’re not allowing the odd-man rushes and high-danger scoring chances they were earlier in the season, and they’re allowing fewer chances overall while creating more for themselves.
The slog to open the season wasn’t much different from others the Lightning have experienced. But dealing with that kind of adversity early on and being forced to work your way out of it or fall behind in the standings could end up being better for the team in the long run, Point said.
“You know, if you come away with wins in some of those games where we’re not playing very well and we’re not playing the right way, maybe those habits continue,” he said. “But starting the way we did, I think it was a real kind of look-in-the-mirror time for us. I think that’s kind of what helped us snap out of some of the bad habits we were in and kind of forced us to be structured and play harder.
The addition of a pair of newcomers — center Dominic James and defenseman Charle-Edouard D’Astous — have added fresh energy to the lineup. It’s no coincidence that their arrival coincided with the Lightning’s surge, and their fast-paced and responsible play have pushed them into regular roles.
On the road trip, the Lightning are expected to get defenseman Max Crozier back from a lower-body injury sustained Oct. 14 in Washington. His return would give the Lightning eight healthy defensemen. In Friday’s practice, Crozier skated on the third pairing on the right side, with D’Astous. Emil Lilleberg and Darren Raddysh comprised a fourth pairing.
In the not-too-distant future, third-line center Nick Paul is expected to return, which would create a roster crunch among the forward group as well. Cooper said Friday that Paul will be considered day to day after the road trip ends on Thursday. The team already sent Mitchell Chaffee through waivers after he was a healthy scratch, and rookie forwards Jack Finley and Curtis Douglas both have seen their share of healthy-scratch games recently.
Cooper said he’d rather call those decisions “awesome choices” to make than difficult ones.
“I’d rather have the tough choice than the easy one, where it’s just like, ‘OK, it’s easy to pull this guy out because he hasn’t been doing very well,’” the coach said. “I’d rather have the hard decision of having to sit a kid that’s been playing unreal, because everybody’s playing unreal.”
Lions WR Jameson Williams update to give fantasy football managers hope
The 2025 Detroit Lions have been playing well this season despite losing their offensive and defensive coordinators from last season. The offense, in particular, has many weapons to utilize. Still, one key receiver, Jameson Williams, has not been a big part of the offense yet this year, which has been disappointing for Lions fans and fantasy football managers. However, they seem to have a plan to fix that, even with Williams saying he is only focused on wins.
Detroit Lions offensive coordinator Joe Morton told ESPN that the offense has “failed” Jameson Williams in getting the wide receiver involved enough in the team’s offense. In fact, Williams went catchless in the Lions’ last game against the Buccaneers. It was the first time that Williams had not recorded a catch all year, and he was only targeted twice the entire game.
Williams has 17 receptions for 289 yards and two touchdowns on the season, but has eclipsed 45 yards in only two games this season.
“I looked at everything, as far as that. I’m going to do a better job with that. But there have been opportunities where it just didn’t happen,” said Morton, the Lions’ first-year offensive coordinator. “It’s not like we aren’t going to try to target him. So that was the biggest thing.
“So I looked at everything, and I failed him. That’s what I told him,” Morton added. “I have to do a better job with that. But it’s a two-way street. We definitely looked at that.”
While the Lions were on bye, Morton met with Williams, discussed the missed opportunities, and discussed how Detroit will try to do more to get him involved with the offense. They are also looking for ways to get him open more because he has faced more double teams this year, alongside Amon-Ra St. Brown.
“He came to me and expressed to me how he felt, but with me, I really wasn’t taking it too far into thinking about it,” Williams said. “We was winning games and things like that, so I can never get myself too worked up with me getting the ball or getting targeted. I know it’s gonna come. It’s a long season.”
To his credit, Williams has not dwelled on the fact that the touches have not been there for him in the offense this season so far. Still, Williams is a big-play threat, dating back to his time at Alabama. In 2024, he hit over 1,000 receiving yards for the first time in his career and signed a three-year extension worth up to $83 million in September. It seems like Williams’ time is coming, and when it does, Lions fans should be ready.
