The last time I sat down to write about the Lightning was long before Christmas. At the time I felt like the three-game win streak they were on was evidence that they had righted the ship and were headed to their rightful place in the playoffs. But just after I wrote that they started another stretch of LWLWLW hockey and just couldn’t break free from the 90-point pace that spelled “bubble team”
Once again I put pen to paper in the middle of a win streak, but this time things are different. There’s just too much going right to ignore. And I believe that this is where the team surges hard, climbs the leader board and gets firmly into a playoff spot. They may not overtake the foundering Leafs, but I wouldn’t rule it out. What’s changed?
Kucherov for MVP. This hasn’t really changed. It’s been a season long show. But for me, I’ve never watched this guy play night-in night-out before and my lord is he impressive. His passing is beautiful. Always tape-to-tape and often through a hole that only the rarest of talents could find. He’s aggressive defensively and hungry for the puck. The way he places the puck on a tee for Stammer, Point, Hedman and others makes the game so easy for them. He’s been on a tear all season.
Great contribution from Brandon Hagel. The more I watch this guy the more I like him as well. Just a high-motor, fiercely competitive tall skinny animal. He just looks like he hates to not score. And he’s a slick passer.
Secondary scoring. You know who the leaders will be. And at the beginning of the season it was just the core guys putting up points. But lately we’ve had a two-goal game from Luke Glendenning, a game-winning shorty from Tyler Motte and continued strong contributions from Nick Paul. Walterri Merela got his first. They’re not coming in bunches but they’re coming from all over the place.
D-scoring. Calvin DeHaan got his third with an ENG against the Sabres. Darren Raddysh and Nick Perbix had back-to-back OT goals against the Devils and Kings. Raddysh’s was a snipe, and Perbix’s was a beautiful five-hole finish off a sweet feed from uber-tenacious Brandon Hagel.
Hedman’s a scoring machine. The man’s going to have another 85-point season, while using that enormous frame to play solidly, sometimes spectacularly in his own end.
D call-ups form Syracuse play like they belong here. With Sergachev and Cernak injured, a number of Crunch defenseman have gotten a serious look. The guy that seems to be sticking is Emil Lilleberg, and perhaps his Crunch partner Max Crozier. Lilleberg put opponents on notice when he absolutely trucked Anaheim’s Brett Leason in a 5-1 Lightning and his reputation is that he loves that sort of thing. Enjoyably, he sat on the bench with an absolute IDGAF look on his face while Ducks meathead Ross Johnson tried to intimidate him.
And finally, Vasilevskiy’s a beast again. GAA’s going down, save percentage is going up. It looks like his back surgeon knew what he was doing.
There’s a ton of work to do, and there will be no easy games between now and the playoffs, but the team looks better than it has all year.
The Morning Skate 