Overtime victory gives Lightning a positive start to promising season

TAMPA, Fla. -- A season of high ambition begins with piercing cheers in darkness during pregame introductions for all the stars: Ryan Callahan and Ben Bishop, Valtteri Filppula and Victor Hedman and, loudest of all, Steven Stamkos. The wait is over. The time for speculation is done.

A season of high ambition begins with the familiar organ notes, the young boy who screams over the loudspeakers "Be the thunder!" and the "I believe that we will win!" chant from the rowdy fans in Section 307. The sounds of an anticipated season tickle the eardrums. Possibility fills the air, and anything seems possible.

Thursday, the Tampa Bay Lightning opened against the Florida Panthers at Amalie Arena and continued their mastery of an intrastate foe. They beat their Atlantic Division rival 3-2 in overtime behind a power-play goal from Hedman and improved to 8-1-1 against the Panthers since the start of the 2012-13 season. But this was a lone step in an extended journey that will be watched with wonder, and now, with opening night giving way to Game No. 2 on Saturday against the Ottawa Senators, there's little time to stay fixed on the past.

In the dressing room, with music thumping in the background, Hedman spoke about how the Lightning didn't play their best but good teams find a way to win. Bishop talked about how it was simply nice to compete for real. Removed from the collective relief, in a small room down the hall, coach Jon Cooper addressed his team's resilience.

"Ultimately, the boys gamed it out," he said. "It's one-goal games -- you have to win them, and you especially have to win them at home."

Though it took until 7:12 into the second period for the Lightning to score, they showed early the identity that Cooper spoke about during morning skate. They were quick -- "This year's team is faster," he said pregame -- and the speed was evident throughout much of the sprint that allowed Tampa Bay to own an 8-3 shot advantage after the first period.

This was a positive start. Identities in hockey often change in time, and the Lightning are familiar with how Day 1 visuals can seem like optical illusions when they're recalled in the spring. But Thursday represented a fresh start, a final movement past the memory of a traumatic 2013-14 campaign that had the appearance at times of a snake shedding skin. Being content with the present was more than fine.

It's fitting that Tyler Johnson scored the Lightning's first goal, given how he's part of the youth moment that offers promise for Tampa Bay this season and in years to come. Parts like Johnson and others that have contributed to all the lofty expectations have the potential to build on gains made last season. The Lightning are an example of youth's promise -- they posted 72 goals from rookies last season -- and it will be their task to show that they're mature enough to handle the grown-up attention focused their way.

The best-case scenario is tantalizing to envision, though. What if the youth complements the old? What if Johnson, Palat and Stamkos excel and Callahan, Brian Boyle and Anton Stralman offer veteran influences to lift the Lightning to another level? What if the preseason forecasts aren't misguided? What if the Lightning draw from lessons of last season's progress and create a greater legacy this time around?

Such an outcome would be a proper way to reward a region that has grown weary of betrayed optimism. There was the underwhelming Tampa Bay Rays season that was supposed to reach October and then the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' 1-4 start after the hope of Lovie Smith's hire. No one around here can be blamed for glancing ahead with hesitation.

Yes, there's no escape that there will be adversity in the months ahead. Cooper admitted as such early Thursday afternoon, and in many ways, those challenges will define this Lightning team.

After last season, why would they have it any other way? Is it possible to imagine Tampa Bay's current makeup without having endured Stamkos' broken right tibia, Marty St. Louis' trade to the New York Rangers and Bishop's wrist and elbow injuries? Is it possible to imagine another path ahead without having survived the one filled with potholes behind?

Those events are part of the Lightning's DNA. It remains to be seen what kind of identity Tampa Bay will forge this year, what hurdles await. Time reveals new stars and tests proven ones. Nothing stays stagnant.

Last year at this time, the Lightning began their season as a quiet question. But everything they do this winter will carry more volume because of what they became by last April. That's a compliment to their growth but it also carries responsibility, a challenge that could propel them to another level if met.

That possibility should excite. The Lightning stand before a blank canvas, and they will be the artists of their outcome, a masterpiece or a mess to come.

The discovery won't be boring. Thursday was the first glimpse of a season of high ambition, and the home team's bench cleared when Hedman's shot slipped past goaltender Roberto Luongo. The blue uniforms gathered near a far wall, with hugs all around, before moving toward center ice with sticks raised.

On this night, the time for anticipation ended.

On this night, an opportunity to prove the promise began.

You can follow Andrew Astleford on Twitter @aastleford or email him at aastleford@gmail.com.