Spring is here, and so are the Stanley Cup Playoffs. After a hard-fought season, the Tampa Bay Lightning are gearing up to battle for some postseason hardware once again, but they are not alone. Both the Lightning’s affiliates, the Syracuse Crunch and Orlando Solar Bears, have made it to their respective postseasons too. This speaks to how excellently run the Lightning organization is from top to bottom. Each of these teams has had their share of challenges along the way, but all three have escaped the regular season. These three teams are all capable of making some noise in the playoffs, so let’s take a look at how they look and what exactly comes next.
Tampa Bay Lightning
If the Lightning’s season could be summed up in one word, it would be “resilience.” That is something that they have shown all season. Whether it was being without Andrei Vasilevskiy for the start of the season or finding ways to grind out wins when the secondary scoring was struggling, this team has continued to find a way. Aside from the top lines of forwards, every part of the team has had some serious lows throughout the season. At the same time, all of those lows were countered with performances that more than met expectations. This might not be the most complete or consistent Lightning team in recent memory, but the pieces are there to make a deep run if the team plays up to its potential.
Nikita Kucherov put up an MVP-caliber season, and now everything else is falling into place. Vasilevskiy is playing his best hockey of the season and is now getting help defensively, thanks in large part to some of the young guys like Emil Lilleberg and Darren Raddysh. It is also worth noting that Victor Hedman might not be getting much attention, but he has done an outstanding job leading the defense, especially while Mikhail Sergachev has been out. Meanwhile, on the offensive end, the addition of Anthony Duclair has helped all of the lines really click into place. Steven Stamkos is heating up at the right time, and Anthony Cirelli was able to reach 20 goals for the first time in his career. It would be a mistake to write this team off.
They do have quite a challenge in front of them, though. The Lightning face their in-state rival, the Florida Panthers, in the first round. Their past two playoff meetings did decidedly go the way of the Lightning, but a lot has changed in the past two seasons. The Panthers boast the best roster they have ever had and are arguably the most complete team in the Eastern Conference. They have also largely had their way with the Lightning in the regular season this year. If the Lightning win their first round bout, then there really is no one they cannot beat, but first, they are going to have to find their way out of what will likely prove to be a brutal series.
Syracuse Crunch
Over 1,000 miles north in Syracuse, New York, the Lightning-affiliated Crunch have punched their spot in the American Hockey League’s (AHL) Calder Cup Playoffs. Unlike the Lightning, who had to settle for a wildcard spot, the Crunch were able to take home first in the North Division and third in the Eastern Conference. That is not to say that they ran away with the division, though, because it was certainly a battle. The Crunch finished with just one more point than the second-place Rochester Americans and three more points than the third-place Cleveland Monsters. A single win separates the Crunch from the other two in the standings, but that is enough to get them a first-round bye. Heading into the playoffs, the Crunch are admittedly not playing their best hockey. They are currently 1-4 in their last five games.
Luckily, they will have some time to rest during their first round bye, and given how the rest of their season went, they do have the pieces to turn it around. Gage Goncalves was really the engine that ran the offense, as he put up 58 points on the season, and it will be crucial for him to keep it up in the postseason. He had plenty of help, though, with six players totaling at least 30 points. The team will also need to rely on its goal-scoring leader, Cole Koepke, who notched 20 goals in the regular season. One more player to keep an eye on is Mashim Groshev, who has been the team’s top rookie this year. He finished the season with a solid 10 goals and 20 assists.
The concerns for the Crunch are with the defense and goaltending. The Lightning, having called up Lilleberg and traded Jack Thompson, have left the cupboard a bit bare for the Crunch. With goaltending, Hugo Anfelt has generally performed, but he split time almost evenly with Matt Tomkins, who is currently absent, as he is currently filling in for an injured Jonas Johansson as Vasilevskiy’s backup. The Crunch have been able to overcome the challenges of losing players all year, so there is reason to believe that they can get back into form. They will be waiting in the divisional semi-final for the Toronto Marlies or Belleville Senators.
Orlando Solar Bears
The Solar Bears finished the regular season in fourth place in the southern division of the ECHL and sixth place in the conference, which was enough to snag a playoff spot. In the ECHL, there are four playoff spots per division, and the conference standings do not matter, so the Solar Bears just made the playoffs by the skin of their teeth. They beat out the South Carolina Stingrays for that fourth spot by one point and actually finished the season with one less win than the Stingrays. It is not always a guarantee that the top eight teams in a conference make the playoffs, and looking at the standings, the Solar Bears would have been a top eight team but not a playoff team if they failed to secure that final point.
To make things even more dramatic, it took the Solar Bears down to their last game to make the playoffs. They finished the season on a 4-1 run in their last five games and won the season finale by a score of 1-0. That one goal was the difference between making the playoffs or going golfing. Oh, and that game-winning goal? It came in the third period with 30 seconds left. The Solar Bears have a tie for leading scorer between Brayden Low and Aaron Luchuk, with both sitting at a very respectable 49 points. Meanwhile, the top-scoring defenseman, Ben Carroll, tallied 35 points.
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The goaltending duties were largely split three ways between Brandon Halverson, Even Fitzpatrick, and Colten Ellis. Each one of the three had a goals-against average that was under 2.83 and a save percentage that was above .912. In the first round of the playoffs, the Solar Bears will take on the Southern Division’s first-place team, the Greenville Swamp Rabbits. The Solar Bears have had some success against the Swamp Rabbits this season, but the Swamp Rabbits are a more consistent team, so this could be a series that goes the distance.
Final Thoughts
Whatever happens next, it has been a successful season for the Lightning organization from top to bottom. To have every level make the playoffs is an impressive feat and something worth celebrating. Of course, these three teams have a lot left to play for, and any one of them could come home with a trophy. None of these teams are juggernauts, but they all have the right ingredients to find some postseason success and surprise some of the pundits. Now that the regular season is over, it is time for the main event. This is the time of year that every fan waits for. Get ready for some playoff hockey!
