This can be a purpose that technically did not occur, so it is particularly essential that I present it to you. It is a powerful little bit of offensive stress from the Tampa Bay Lightning of their massive win over the Bruins on Wednesday, and it is courtesy of their Brandon Hagel/Anthony Cirelli/Steven Stamkos line. Hagel carried the puck throughout the blue line and tousled a go to Cirelli, which gave away possession, however Stamkos skated shortly from dot to dot to supply stress, and in doing so he helped create a turnover earlier than the Bruins might get it out of their zone. The Lightning fired a shot try, then handed it across the perimeter earlier than defenseman Erik Černák knocked the puck off a Boston leg. Fortunately, it bounced diagonally into the sights of Stamkos, who slapped it house like he is finished for 16 years. It turned out that the preliminary Hagel entry some 20 seconds earlier was offside, however that did not change the ultimate results of the sport, so who cares?
That “purpose” felt good for Stamkos, who, just like the Lightning, has struggled to get comfy this season. Although the 34-year-old captain continues to be their third-leading scorer, the vast majority of his targets have come on the Bolts’ league-leading energy play. At five-on-five, Stamkos’s protection is a legal responsibility, and his manufacturing hasn’t been sufficient to make up for it. His profession low minus-23 on a group with a purpose differential of plus-17 is a sore spot for a man who’s used to being an enormous a part of why his guys win.
The Lightning get sort of a free go within the common season. In 2022, head coach Jon Cooper mentioned straight-up, “Our sole purpose is to get in, it doesn’t matter the place we end,” and it is smart why he feels that approach. In 2019, the Bolts suffered by way of the indignity of a first-round sweep after a traditionally nice regular-season run. Since then, the Lightning have but to seize wherever close to the 128 factors they earned in that abruptly ended marketing campaign, however they’ve received two Stanley Cups and made it inside two wins of a 3rd.
However not everyone seems to be keen to increase them the good thing about the doubt this time round. Final yr was a merely acceptable common season adopted by a first-round exit by the hands of Toronto Maple Leafs, who by no means win within the first spherical. And after one more summer season spent wiggling out from the choking grip of the wage cap, they entered this yr with their prime scorers a yr older, their roster just a little shallower, their star goalie needing surgical procedure, and their margin for error thinner than ever. This group would seem a lot nearer to the tip of its dynastic period than to its starting.
Notably with out Andrei Vasilevskiy till Thanksgiving (and with him struggling to regain his previous kind as soon as he returned), Tampa performed their first chunk of the season like they’d seen too many autumns to care about yet another. In the beginning of December, they’d solely received 10 out of 24 video games, which had them twelfth within the East. They took small steps towards enchancment over the winter, however their struggles got here to a head after a 6-3 loss to Calgary on March 7, which dropped Tampa beneath the Islanders for the convention’s final playoff spot. Cooper did not maintain again in his analysis of the group. “The execution was horrendous however the decision-making was in all probability even worse than that,” he mentioned. “The product they placed on the ice tonight for our followers, that is sort of inexcusable.”
The Bolts responded just like the Bolts of previous. They rubbed the Flyers’ faces within the dust, 7-0, then whipped the Rangers 6-3. Florida and Vegas fell subsequent, then the Sharks (no matter), and regardless that an OT loss to the Kings served as a small velocity bump, they’ve emerged victorious of their final two, together with a really calm and guaranteed Wednesday triumph in opposition to the standout Bruins.
The obvious particular person to thank is Anthony Duclair, who debuted for the Lightning in that Flyers recreation after a commerce from San Jose. The 28-year-old winger has made his repute as premium assist for playmaking strains— Jonathan Huberdeau was an excellent buddy to him in Florida—and he is slotted completely into that top-line function alongside stalwarts Brayden Level and Nikita Kucherov. He is received 5 targets in eight video games, all at even power, to go along with 4 assists. However what Duclair’s look has additionally finished is open up a brand new spot for Stamkos, the place he can get important defensive assist from penalty-kill maestros Hagel and Cirelli whereas offering that acquainted offensive spark.
It certain looks like the Lightning have gotten all of it found out, huh! I am nonetheless involved about Vasilevskiy’s reliability, however what the Bolts are doing proper now to shore up a playoff spot is the very definition of “peaking on the proper time.” Veterans of the lengthy playoff grind, it feels as if the group was storing its power, and now that the stakes are rising, they’re addressing their remaining flaws and prepping for battle. However the playoffs continues to be its personal animal. Tampa is aware of higher than anybody that the common season does not predict something.