The Tampa Bay Lightning are looking for redemption as they begin their run for the Stanley Cup. After being swept by Columbus in the first round last year, the team knows it has a lot to prove to both themselves as well as the fans.
Unconventional is a good word to describe the season as well as the playoffs this year. The league paused the season in March and has since rolled out a four phase plan which hopes to award the Stanley Cup right around the time the players would have been getting ready to go back to work. When the season was paused, Tampa was sitting in the number two spot in the Eastern Conference.
Because they are one of the top four teams, round one will look a little different than it would have if the season would have gone on as normal. They won’t face one team, instead they will play three different teams (Washington, Boston and Philadelphia) to determine seeding for round two.
Round Robin Play
After one exhibition game against interstate rival Panthers, and while the rest of the qualifying teams in the East are competing for their chance to “play in”, the Bolts square off in their first round robin game against the Washington Capitals who were just two points below in the standings at the pause. Washington, with its fire-power in Alex Ovechkin (49 goals and 19 assists in 68 games), T.J. Oshie (26 goals and 23 assists in 69 games) and Jakub Vrana (25 goals and 27 assists in 69 games), will present a challenge for the Lightning right away. Not to mention a defence led two-way player John Carlson and physical defender Tom Wilson.
Nikita Kucherov (33 goals and 52 assists on 68 games), Steven Stamkos (29 goals and 37 assists in 57 games) and Alex Killorn (26 goals and 23 assists in 68 games) will likely be on the ice against them as they were the Lightning’s top point producers before the abrupt end to the season. Brayden Point will likely step up his production since Stamkos just joined the team late last week after recovering from an injury during phase two of the return to play process. Norris candidate Victor Hedman will log hefty minutes against the Capitals top line. Third time Vezina nominee Andrei Vasilevskiy will have to be better than Capitals netminder Brayden Holtby to stay ahead of Washington in the standings.
Game two pits Tampa against the Boston Bruins. There’s no shortage of fire power on the Bruins as David Pastrnak (48 goals and 47 assists in 70 games) was on a scoring tear when the season was brought to a halt. Brad Marchand (28 goals and 59 assists in 70 games) is always one to keep an eye on when he is on the ice for many reasons which also includes scoring goals. Can’t forget about Patrice Bergeron (31 goals and 25 assists in 61 games) who manages to find the net more often then not.
The defence is just as stacked with Zdeno Chara, Torey Krug and Charlie McAvoy leading the charge. Add Tuukka Rask in goal and the Lightning will have to bring their offensive talent up a notch to take over the top spot in the East.
The last game of the round robin for Tampa is against the Philadelphia Flyers. The Flyers were running hot right before the league instituted the pause. Travis Konecny (24 goals and 37 assists in 66 games) led the Flyers in scoring while Sean Couturier (22 goals and 37 assists in 69 games) and Jakub Voracek (12 goals and 44 assists in 69 games) were right there with the Canadian right-winger. While the Flyer defence led by veteran Matt Niskanen and newcomer Ivan Provorov doesn’t get as much recognition, they quietly and effectively get the job done.
Goalie Carter Hart doesn’t have the big game experience that the other teams Tampa faces has, but he has stood up strong in crucial games and could prove to be a formidable foe if underestimated.
Hot Take
Tampa has the skill and leadership needed to beat the Capitals, Bruins and Flyers in the round robin seeding games. The biggest factor will be the team’s ability to shut down Ovechkin, keep pace with the multi-layered Bruins and overwhelm Carter Hart. A big advantage for the Bolts is the fact that Pastrnak has yet to attend phase three training camp, being deemed unfit to participate.
As far as the goalies go, Holtby is not the cup winning goalie from a few years ago and has shown he can be thrown off his game. Hart doesn’t have the experience and could easily allow soft goals, especially at critical moments. If Tampa can keep Stamkos and Hedman healthy while capitalizing on the offensive talent of Kucherov, Point and Killorn, and if Vasilevskiy stands tall in goal, the Lightning have a great shot of shooting up going into round two.
The unknown factor of the bubble situation, along with teams playing games in the hub city arena, can make or break any game, but it is my hot take that Tampa will do no worse than finishing second or third in the NHL’s seeding. They have the potential to end the round as the top seed in the East heading into round two.