After a lackluster start to the WCFHL campaign and a flurry of moves early in the season, the Tampa Bay Lightning seem to have found some kind of chemistry. Despite stumbling out of the starting gate, Tampa is sitting comfortably in seventh spot in a tough Eastern Conference, a good eight points clear of the ninth-place Atlanta Thrashers.

“Let’s not get carried away,” laughed Tampa General Manager Lawrence Bailey. “We’re only 41 games into the season, not 81.”

Fair enough, however, a team that was apparently in rebuild mode has rallied around a defense-first mentality and some unexpected offensive outbursts and is making some noise. Led by early season acquisition and workhorse netminder Marc Denis, the Bolts find themselves four games over .500 (19-15-7) and are showing no signs of slowing.

“We’re definitely happy with the results, that’s for sure,” explained Bailey. “However, we realize we’re only halfway there and we still have a young, developing team.”. With a stellar blueline made up of Brenden Witt, Colin White, Robyn Regehr, Patrice Brisebois, Anton Volchenkov and Eric Cairns, the Bolts are banging and bruising their way to results.

Equally impressive has been the play of their workmanlike forwards.

With a top six boasting names like Martin Gelinas and Jason King (both early season pick-ups) the Lightning offense is anything but high octane—but it gets the job done. Point-per-game winger Sergei Samsonov aside, Tampa relies on balanced scoring and solid defensive play to get results.

“Sergei [Samsonov] is a pure offensive talent, however the key to our offense has been the play of character guys like Marty [Gelinas] and Mike [Peca] have been the deciding factor in a lot of games,’ Bailey explained. “We preach a defense-first approach and we’re building from the net out. Even Marc [Denis] will be the first to tell you his four shutouts thus far are a team stat, not an individual one.”

Despite emphasizing the fact that there’s still a long way to go, Bailey acknowledges the lower payroll and higher attendance are a welcome change for a team that had been walking a financial tightrope up until this season.

“It’s nice to take a break from reassuring banks we’re solvent,” the GM laughed. “I give all the credit in the world to the kids in the room. They’re getting results and people pay to see results.”

Indeed, the horizon is much more appealing for the Lightning than it was as training camp broke.