At the face of it, the Tampa Bay Lightning aren’t — no less than through their lofty requirements — having a super-charged season. However whilst you’re the two-time protecting Cup champions, the metrics you measure issues through shift slightly. And there’s unquestionably, whilst you imagine what Tampa’s demanding situations have been heading into the yr and the way issues have performed out, that the Bolts are nonetheless well-positioned to take a significant run at making fashionable historical past.
Tampa was once defeated 3-2 through the Vegas Golden Knights in a shootout on Saturday, proper at house in Amalie Enviornment. The Lights in fact trailed 2-0 with 6:48 to head, when Ross Colton minimize the Vegas result in one target. Then, for the fourth time this season, Corey Perry netted a game-equalizing target with fewer than 3 mins closing in law.
Possibly the general consequence wasn’t what the Bolts sought after, however the contributions of the ones two gamers spotlight how this staff may well be regenerating after dropping each member of its extremely efficient 0.33 line in the summertime. Colton already signalled he generally is a participant as a rookie remaining yr. After bouncing backward and forward between the principle crew and the taxi squad and showing in about half of the common season suits, Colton performed each unmarried post-season contest for Jon Cooper’s group. This yr, he’s centring the fourth line and, since mid-November, has 8 targets and 11 assists for 19 issues in 30 outings.
For the ones holding observe at house, that is the one-billionth showed case of significant drafting and creating through the Bolts. Colton, 25, was once a fourth-rounder in 2016, performed two years of NCAA hockey, spent two extra marinating within the AHL with the Syracuse Crunch and is now enjoying greater than 13 mins a recreation for the most productive group in hockey.
Perry’s backstory, after all, is understood to anyone who’s been paying any consideration to hockey up to now two decades. After dropping each the 2020 and ’21 Stanley Cup Finals to Tampa — first as a Dallas Megastar, then as a Montreal Canadien — Perry left Quebec to signal with Tampa — superb choice ever? — remaining summer time. The 36-year-old had one level after 16 video games and 0 targets after 17. On the other hand, he discovered the again of the online in Sport 18 and has been scoring at a 35-goal tempo since then with 12 markers in 28 contests. And, let’s be actual; the ones late-game heroics are a window into why Tampa sought after this man first of all: It’s now not about what he does in February, it’s about how you realize he’s going to turn in crunch time.
And whilst the efficiency of Colton and Perry have lessened the blow of dropping Yanni Gourde, Barclay Goodrow and Blake Coleman — the fellows who comprised that regularly terrorizing 0.33 unit — this staff will, after all, all the time be outlined through its plentiful famous person energy. To that finish, Victor Hedman is generating issues at the most productive fee of his profession, whilst Steven Stamkos is easily over a point-per-game this season and — most significantly for the man who’s had such terrible harm success and hasn’t performed the rest with reference to a complete marketing campaign since showing in all 82 in 2018-19 — hasn’t had an injury-related absence this yr. Brayden Level did omit 14 video games with an upper-body harm, however he’s scoring at a 40-goal tempo differently. And whilst Nikita Kucherov — who didn’t play a normal season recreation remaining yr — is as soon as once more lacking large swaths of the agenda (insert cap circumvention shaggy dog story right here), he’s necessarily a plug-and-play nuclear weapon at this level.
As for Andrei Vasilevskiy, he’s reached that stage the place he’s universally identified as the most productive at his place without reference to what everybody’s stats are at this very minute. And the way about Alex Killorn — the man so regularly discussed because the sacrificial cap lamb up to now 3 or 4 years — leaping up a tier or two to play at just about a 75-point tempo this yr?
3 groups within the Japanese Convention are recently forward of the Lights through issues proportion, but it surely’s price noting the membership’s .711 mark is in fact upper than the quantity it posted in every of the previous two seasons, either one of which ended with confetti and Champagne. Will have to that occur once more, Tampa will grow to be the primary NHL staff for the reason that early-80s Islanders to win 3 instantly Cups. In pursuit of that unbelievable target, the squad seems to have discovered every other wave of third- and fourth-line individuals who can underpin the continuing famous person turns on the best of the lineup.
Different Takeaways
• The Los Angeles King busted out the chrome buckets on Sunday afternoon in Pittsburgh they usually certain had substance to head at the side of their flashy taste. After seeing a 3-1 third-period disappear in opposition to Sidney Crosby and Co. — and enjoying 24 hours after an OT loss to Philadelphia halted the Flyers’ 13-game dropping streak — Los Angeles left Pennsylvania on a prime due to Trevor Moore’s attractiveness snipe at the game-winner. The target was once Moore’s moment of the sport and the previous Toronto Maple Leaf has been on fireplace of past due, registering 16 issues in 14 video games for the reason that calendar flipped to 2022. The win intended L.A. has earned no less than some extent within the first 5 outings of a six-game roadie that concludes Tuesday in Detroit. The Kings began the yr 1-5-1, however novices Phillip Danault and Viktor Arvidsson have combined effectively, Anze Kopitar and Drew Doughty are forged as ever and 2020 second-overall select Quinton Byfield now has a half-dozen video games — and his first NHL target — underneath his belt after maintaining a left ankle fracture within the pre-season. Los Angeles has the seventh-best issues proportion within the Western Convention, the fourth-best Corsi proportion within the league (54.12 p.c) and is putting tricky in pursuit of its first playoff look since 2018.
• Make it 18 instantly house wins for the Avalanche after their 4-1 defeat of the Sabres on Sunday. Within the carrying parlance of our time, those guys are a wagon.
• So the “Michigan” has already grow to be a hockey staple to the purpose that Jonathan Huberdeau — the NHL’s main point-getter, through the best way — in fact faked doing it to get Brent Burns to chunk just a bit prior to putting in Sam Bennett for the OT winner in (every other) large win for Florida on Saturday as opposed to the Sharks. A lot of these younger gamers loopy arms and imaginations, the NHL can’t thanks sufficient.
Weekend Warrior(s)
Cheers to Henrik Lundqvist and Sergei Zubov — seventh- and fifth-rounders, respectively — who watched their numbers raised to the rafters on Friday night time.
To be fair I will be able to’t actually installed to phrases how wonderful remaining night time was once. I had such a lot of moments right through the night time that felt surreal. Thanks to all of the @NYRangers group for what you have got executed for me and my circle of relatives #NYRforever %.twitter.com/hjouXZWdKw
— Henrik Lundqvist (@HLundqvist) January 29, 2022
Pink and White Energy Scores
1. Toronto Maple Leafs (27-10-3) Rasmus Sandin’s first target of the yr was once a game-winner with 2:51 closing within the 0.33 era in what became out to be a nutty 7-4 comeback win for the Leafs over Detroit on Saturday. It additionally got here two years and two days after his best different NHL tally, which happened Jan. 27, 2020.
2. Calgary Flames (21-13-6) The Flames, who shutout the Canucks 1-0 on Saturday, were all or not anything defensively the previous half-dozen video games. They allowed 5 targets on two separate events, however they’ve surrendered simply two targets overall within the 4 different video games.
3. Edmonton Oilers (22-16-2) Mainly everyone were given a cookie as opposed to the hapless Habs on Saturday, as 14 Oilers hit the rating sheet within the 7-2 victory.
4. Winnipeg Jets (18-16-7) Paul Stastny, who’s quietly scoring at a 30-goal tempo, had an enormous pair in opposition to his previous staff in St. Louis on Saturday because the Jets staunched the bleeding with a 4-1 win to snap their six-game dropping streak.
5. Vancouver Canucks (19-19-6) It was once an outstanding appearing from Thatcher Demko on Saturday, because the goalie — making his first get started since Jan. 18 due to a COVID protocol stint — stopped each shot he confronted in law prior to dropping in OT on a slot-rocket from Johnny Gaudreau.
6. Ottawa Senators (13-21-4) Saturday’s 2-1 loss to the Geese was once a difficult one, given the Sens put 45 pucks on Anaheim stopper John Gibson. Ottawa hasn’t allowed greater than two targets in law in its previous 5 contests and is averaging 37 photographs on target right through that reach.
7. Montreal Canadiens (8-29-7) The Canadiens gave up a blended 13 targets to Edmonton and Columbus right through house losses on Saturday and Sunday. And whilst it was once superior to listen to Carey Value — talking publicly for the primary time since remaining summer time — say he’s feeling significantly better after receiving remedy for dependancy, he additionally said he’s now not utterly certain when (or if) he’ll be capable to proceed his NHL profession thank you more than one setbacks along with his knee harm. That’s, uh, now not the weekend you wish to have.
The Week Forward
• Sidney Crosby can rating profession target No. 500 if he can in finding the online two times on Tuesday night time. The Penguins are web hosting Alex Ovechkin and the Capitals, so Sid will most definitely make it occur, proper?
• Additionally on Tuesday, Alex Tuch and Peyton Krebs seek advice from their previous staff in Vegas. The Golden Knights received’t drop through Buffalo till March 10 and wouldn’t or not it’s one thing if that was once Jack Eichel’s first recreation again?
• Talking of Vegas, the NHL All-Megastar Weekend kicks off within the desolate tract with the talents festival on Friday, adopted through the three-on-three a laugh on Saturday.
