But that is a long-term goal. In the short term, Tampa Bay faces the Avalanche tonight at the Pepsi Center, the first stop of a tough four-game road trip that also passes through Phoenix, Los Angeles and Anaheim. They haven't accepted that on the road we're a pretty good team. You have to go into their building thinking you can win hockey games. Not necessarily, defenseman Petr Svoboda said.
Confidence comes from doing the little things right.
It's okay to make mistakes because this is a game of mistakes. As long as you don't repeat the mistakes. The Lightning's biggest mistake on the road has been flat starts. It all becomes part of the learning curve with a strong road trip that also would propel the Lightning into a six-game homestand that begins Dec. 21. Ludzik, who has gone the Knute Rockne route before critical games, said he has no need to state the obvious.