It has been an up-and-down season so far for the Tampa Bay Lightning.
From October through December, the Lightning were very close to playing themselves out of a playoff position with their inconsistent play. Indeed, you can’t secure a playoff spot in the first three months, but you can play yourself out of one.
The Bolts have followed this model the last few seasons and then turned things around the second half of the season to go on a deep playoff run, which resulted in back-to-back Stanley Cup wins in 2020 and 2021.
It looks like the Lightning are following that exact model again this season.
Since the calendar flipped to 2024, the Bolts have gone 9-3 and are in third place in the Atlantic Division at 27-18-5 for 59 points. They are seven points behind second-place Florida and lead Toronto and Detroit by one point.
So, what has caused the sudden improved play and sense of urgency for the Lightning?
The Veterans Have Showed Up To Play For 60 Minutes
The veterans have shown up to play and play hard for three periods. The first three months of the season, it looked as if so many veterans were going through the motions some nights and not going all out for a full 60 minutes.
That has changed now, and in the last month, I have seen a terrific effort from the veterans all game long.
Goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy has played much better in the last month. He has won eight of his last ten starts and is making big saves in games.
Vasilevskiy had back surgery this off-season and didn’t play until late November. He was not himself when he returned, and it took a while to get his game back.
After missing all of the training camps, Vasi had to play his way into game shape instead of using training camp and preseason to get into game shape.
Nikita Kucherov Is Having An MVP Season
Nikita Kucherov is in the middle of an MVP-caliber season and is on pace to score 140 points. He leads the Lightning in scoring with 32 goals and 85 points. Kucherov has also registered ten points in his last twelve games. He has registered four three-point games and one four-point game.
The Lightning are also getting more scoring from the blue line. Victor Hedman leads the Bolts’ D-men in scoring with nine goals and 41 assists, good for 50 points. That is good for third on the team in terms of scoring.
Darryn Raddysh added four goals and seven assists in January, and Nick Perbix scored the game-winning score in overtime against the LA Kings.
The Rookies Have Proven They Are Ready For The NHL
The play of the rookies has surprised everyone. Email Lilleberg, Max Crozier, Walterri Merela, and Mitchell Chaffee have all shown they belong at the NHL level.
They have played mistake-free hockey for the most part and have earned the trust of head coach Jon Cooper and the rest of their teammates to be on the ice in critical situations.
Erik Cernak and Mikhail Sergachev will be back at some point this month. Then, some difficult decisions will have to be made. Some tough roster decisions will also be made when Haydn Fleury and Tanner Jeannot are ready to return.
The Lightning have 32 games left in the regular season. Every game is essential when it comes to playoff positioning.
The Lightning cannot afford a start to the post-all-star break like they had in October.
The Lightning appears to have found the formula for success.
- Play with a sense of urgency for 60 minutes.
- Get scoring from all four lines and the blue line.
- Andrei Vasileviskiy needs to continue to play well.
- The rookies need to continue to play as well as they did before the All-Star break.
The Bolts will be back in action Wednesday night when they open a four-game road trip that will take them to New York with games against the Rangers and the Islanders, followed by a trip to Columbus and Boston.