That means an ability to be more aggressive in the offensive zone when opponents try to set up breakouts because of confidence the defense will react appropriately. Tampa Bay on Tuesday sent in a deep forechecker with another slightly back to force puck carriers to a side wall. A third patrolled near the blue line and read the play.

On the back end, one defenseman stepped up at the red line to challenge puck carries. The other chased down the hoped-for dump-ins.

Much different from the 1-3-1 system used last season, when the Lightning, with a much slower back line, many times waited for teams to come to it. Against the Flyers in November, that led to the teams basically staring at each other with Philadelphia at times refusing to move the puck out of its zone.

"Nothing drastic," Brewer said of the new system. "You're just always trying to pressure when you have numbers and be more aware when you don't. For us, it's just clarifying the areas you can be more aggressive."