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Plot twist: Who can still turn it around this NHL season?
Winnipeg Jets' Mathieu Perreault scores the winning goal against Florida Panthers goaltender Roberto Luongo during the shootout on Thursday, Dec. 15, 2016. Although both teams have had a rough start to the 2016-2017 season, both teams have the tools to see improvement. John Woods/The Canadian Press via AP

Plot twist: Who can still turn it around this NHL season?

Plot twists in TV episodes are what keep us on our seat watching shows. If every storyline was predictable halfway through the half our or hour-long spot, nobody would watch to the end of an episode.

The same goes for plot twists in the NHL season. Here, at the weird juncture between the one-third and halfway mark, the standings and the story of the season is not set in stone. There are teams in mediocre standing in their divisions that are suffering from fixable issues, and have the potential to wedge their way into the discussion as the playoffs near. Whether those fixable issues are a need for a roster change or a shuffling in the ranks, there is potential for some of these middle-of-the-pack teams that can turn things around.

That can be the plot twist to the season, if you will.

Here are the NHL teams who have the potential to turn their seasons around.

Tampa Bay Lightning 
At the start of the season, the Bolts were the heavy favorite to make a deep playoff run. Unfortunately the injury bug has bit the Atlantic Division titan’s forward assault pretty hard, and not just when it comes to losing megastar Steven Stamkos (again). They also haven’t been a very tight defensively, including starting goalie Ben Bishop.

What can be fixed? For starters, recognizing that they have rallied after injuries to key players in recent seasons and won big games, like last season when Stamkos wasn’t available for the duration and TB got all the way to the Eastern Conference Final. So, fixing their mentality and recognizing that they can improve is the first step.

Next is tightening up the defense in front of Bishop. Whether that means that GM Steve Yzerman is already looking to make a trade ahead of the deadline or not isn’t completely clear. But in the mean time, some extended work on blocking shots and penalty killing during morning skates would definitely help.

Florida Panthers
Naturally, with a better-than-expected 2015-16 campaign and a busy offseason, the expectations for the Panthers were high for the current season. Those expectations just haven’t been met.

Yes, the Panthers are making headlines for their tire fire of a front office, and that is surely a tough distraction. But we are talking about what is going on on the ice, and goalie Roberto Luongo recently telling FOX Sports that all games “feel like must-wins.”

Luckily, not all hope is lost for this group.

What can be fixed? Putting the distractions on the back-burner must be tough, but that’s the first step in making a midseason push. The other key to start winning games is to get on the board first and build some confidence, as Aleksander Barkov told NHL.com. “If we are losing 2-0 or 3-0, I think it's pretty impossible in this League to come back from (that). We need to concentrate on our start and score our goals first."

Winnipeg Jets
The Winnipeg Jets have a few additions to their arsenal this season, including a new kid named Patrik Laine – maybe you’ve heard of him? – that is an absolute beast and is helping Winnipeg win games.

Unfortunately those wins aren’t coming as frequently as the team would like. A big part of that might be that they played 32 games in a 60-day span and haven’t had much time to practice. A grueling schedule will do any team in.

What can be fixed? Use those days off the right way. The schedule will be a bit more forgiving over the next two months, and it will be up to the whole Winnipeg lineup – even that Ehlers-Scheifle-Wheeler top line – to tighten the screws.

Nashville Predators
This might seem like an odd pick since Nashville hasn’t been terrible since they put October in the rearview mirror. They have had to make plenty of adjustments already in order to win games: Struggling with finding identity after a leadership change; rallying with top players like James Neal sidelined with injury; wondering what version of Pekka Rinne, vintage or shaky, will be in goal for the evening.

One thing that still plagues this team is playing on the road. Prior to this current homestand they lost their 11th of 14 road games this season and allowed the first goal in 10 of those 11, according to Adam Vingan of The Tennessean.

What can be fixed? Find consistency between home and road. It sounds silly, but it makes a difference. (Look at what happened to the San Jose Sharks halfway through last season when they started winning games at home.) Nashville is another team that really needs to focus on getting that first goal in order to boost the offense, whether they are in the comfy confines of Bridgestone Arena or elsewhere.

Calgary Flames
For the first chunk of the season, the Pacific Division has been dominated by the Oilers and the Sharks, with the Ducks nipping at their heels, (no pun intended.) The Flames have had sparks of greatness, despite being without Johnny Gaudreau for a stretch and having one of the tougher schedules to the start of the season. They even had a six-game winning streak going before it was snapped by the previously-mentioned Tampa Bay Lightning earlier this week.

What can be fixed? Heck, maybe it’s the rest of the conference that needs to fix up to face them. On a serious note, some ebbs in the schedule should allow the Flames to get the mental aspect of their game in check, something that bench boss Glen Gulutzan already has an eye on. He talked to the National Post about giving the team two days of rest to mentally recharge as he saw fatigue set in: “The mental stuff that I saw was just the unforced, uncharacteristic errors that we didn’t get burned on but easily could have. Those are things that show signs of fatigue and mental fatigue in your group. Those are things that I saw in our game.”

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