Lightning Peaking At Just The Right Time

The Tampa Bay Lightning are playing their best hockey of the season.

Don’t let the 5-4 loss in Pittsburgh dampen your enthusiasm and hopes for the playoffs.

The Lightning Are The Best In The NHL Over The Last Month

The Bolts have gone 10-2-1 in their last 13 games. The only blemishes are an OT loss to the LA Kings, a loss to the Detroit Red Wings last Monday night, and a road loss to the Penguins Saturday afternoon, a team battling for their playoff lives.

In March, right after the trade deadline, this team hit another gear after acquiring forward Anthony Duclair and defenseman Anthony Dumba, and they have not looked back.

Even more impressive is a 6-1-1 mark in their last eight road games. You have to be able to win on the road if you are going to make a deep playoff run. Coach Jon Cooper talked about the road wins for the Lightning after the win in Montreal earlier this week. “If you can’t win on the road, you don’t win in the playoffs. That’s it—bottom line. And for us to get in, you have to be able to win in another team’s building. I think our game’s matured from the back end all the way out.”

Just a month ago, there were question marks surrounding this team about whether they would make the playoffs, and if they did, would it be a repeat of the 2019 playoff series loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets when they were swept in four straight.

Jon Cooper addressed the Lightning play over the last six weeks to solidify a playoff position. “Our goal is to make the playoffs, and on March 1, it was touch and go. But now we’re in April and feeling good about our situation. These guys, they’ve come to work, the urgency level has gone way up, and they’re getting rewarded for it.”

This team is hitting all cylinders right now, and no one wants to match up with them in the first round.

The Bolts have officially clinched a spot in the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the seventh consecutive season. A playoff run that has seen the Bolts play in three Stanley Cup Finals, winning two of them, losing in the Eastern Conference Finals twice, and two early-round exits.

Andrei Vasilevskiy had a rough start to the season recovering from back surgery. But as of late, Vasilevskiy has looked and played like the Vasi we saw during the Bolts Stanley Cup runs from 2020-2023.

Nikita Kucherov Makes His Case For The Hart Trophy

Nikita Kucherov is also making a solid case to win the Hart Trophy, which goes to the league MVP. He is in the running with Nathan Mackinnon of Colorado and Conner McDavid of Edmonton.

Kucherov is also competing for the Art Ross trophy, which goes to the league’s leading scorer. Kucherov, with 134 points, currently leads MacKinnon by two points.

It’s not like the Lightning aren’t getting contributions from other players. Brayden Point has 43G and 42 A for 85 points. Victor Hedman has 62A for a total of 75 points.

The captain, Steven Stamkos, has 36G and 37A for 73 points. But Kucherov is just having one of those seasons where he dominates and overshadows everyone on the team. Kucherov has 43G and 93A for 136 points, leading the second-leading scorer on the team by 51 points.

Kucherov has set a new team record for assists and points and will continue to add to that total over the final five regular season games.

He is just the fifth player in the last thirty years to record 130 points. Kucherov joins Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux, Jaromir Jagr, and Connor McDavid as members of the 130-point club.

The Lightning would play the Boston Bruins in the first round of the playoffs if the season were to end today. The Bolts are four points behind Toronto for third place in the Atlantic. It would take an epic collapse by the Maple Leafs for the Lightning to pass them in the standings.

Everything is coming together at just the right time for this Lightning team, and a deep playoff run looks like a sure thing instead of a first-round exit.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *