With the NHL’s regular season drawing ever closer to an end, the Tampa Bay Lightning are playing their best hockey of the season. The team has managed not only to stave off competition for the first wild card spot but has also made up ground on the Toronto Maple Leafs. A month ago, the Lightning looked shaky, and the idea that they could possibly finish third in the division felt like a pipe dream. At present, it remains to be seen where they will find themselves in the standings come April 17, but a third-place finish is certainly plausible. The team has been performing at another level since the trade deadline and is 8-0-1 in games after March 8. They have been beating good teams too, with the Lightning achieving wins over the New York Rangers, Florida Panthers, and Boston Bruins in that stretch. Why are they playing so well right now, and what’s next for the team?
More Balanced Lines
The trade to acquire Anthony Duclair did not make a lot of headlines, but it did not take long for the league to take notice. The former San Jose Sharks forward has five goals and nine points in nine games with the Lightning. He has looked electric in his short time with the team and added a new element to the first line. His speed, accuracy, and ability to pounce on rebounds have made the first line even more dynamic than it was before. Another aspect of his game that has been beneficial for the team is his knack for knowing where to be to make a play. Duclair’s presence has opened up the game more for his linemates, Brayden Point and Nikita Kucherov. Both of them are elite players, but it never hurts to have more forward depth, and I do not think it’s a coincidence that Point’s game has really stepped up since the deadline acquisition of Duclair.
The trade is about more than just Duclair, though. Having another forward who is a serious scoring threat has allowed the Lightning to shift their lines around a bit, and they look much more balanced than they did earlier in the season. Brandon Hagel, Anthony Cirelli, and Steven Stamkos now make up the second line, which is much more capable than it was in the previous months. Hagel is quickly developing into a star and a key member of the Lightning’s future, and having two veterans on his line will only help elevate his game more. The forward has already surpassed his career high for points and could reach the 75-point mark by the end of the season. While the line could use some more time to mesh, it is worth pointing out that since the deadline, Stamkos has had two multi-goal games. So far, March is, surprisingly, the only month this season where he has achieved that stat. Meanwhile, Cirelli had a three-point game on Saturday night when the Lightning defeated the New York Islanders 4-1.
The bottom two lines look better, but that goes a bit beyond that trade. Firstly, having someone like Nick Paul in your bottom six is a huge help. He is the kind of forward that you can plug into just about any situation, and he is going to do well. He is closing in on his first 20-goal season, and having a scorer like that as a depth forward makes the Lightning’s offense much more dangerous. The other key factor in the new look of the bottom six being more fit for a contending team is the emergence of Mitchell Chaffee and Tanner Jeannot coming back from injury.
Since getting called up from the Syracuse Crunch, Chaffee has provided another option for the Lightning to throw onto the ice with some of their veterans underperforming. He works hard and has been able to find the back of the net a few times. It is only a matter of time before he carves out more of a role for himself. Meanwhile, Jeannot brings back a much-needed physical presence to the team. His role might not be what fans were hoping for when he was first brought on board, but there is no doubt that he brings value to the team, and the Lightning are better with him on the ice.
Vasilevskiy Looking Like Himself
Andrei Vasilevskiy started the season injured and was not playing at the level Lightning fans had come to expect when he returned. That is not a huge surprise, as he was recovering from back surgery and had been playing injured the previous season. It had been quite a while since the Lightning were truly healthy. Getting back into form was likely going to take time, and that definitely ended up being the case. In the month of March, Vasilevskiy has finally turned a corner, and it’s worth getting excited about. For the first time in a long time, he looks like the goalie that led the Lightning to back-to-back Stanley Cups.
Throughout the month, Vasilevskiy is 8-1-1 with a goals-against average of 2.39 and a .915 save percentage (SV%). For reference, the only other month where his SV% was .900 or better was December when it was .902. In only two games, he has given up more than three goals. He has had one shutout during this stretch and three games in which he only gave up one goal. In six of the starts, his SV% has been at least .900, and his signature win in March saw the goalie stop 47 shots for a SV% of .940 against the Panthers. There is still work to be done, but Vasilevskiy is making progress. If he keeps improving and working on getting back to where he was, there are not too many teams that will want to face him when the playoffs roll around.
Elite Special Teams
Throughout the season, the Lightning have had a great power play. In fact, it has been the best in the league. It might come as a shock to some given the ups and downs that the defense has had, but the penalty kill has been respectable as well. That might be a bit of an understatement, as it currently ranks sixth in the league. How have the Lightning’s special teams looked since the March 8 trade deadline, though? Well, the power play, which has been at 28.9% over the course of the season, is at 35.7%. For an already elite unit, that is quite a jump. The real story, though, is the penalty kill.
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The Lightning’s penalty kill sits at 82.5% on the season, but since March 8, it has been an incredible 96.4%. The deadline additions, Vasilevksiy’s improved play, and some adjustments to the team’s strategy have gone a long way toward improving what was already one of the league’s best special teams. Even still, those numbers are well beyond what anyone can realistically hope for. Everything is clicking with the team, though, and they clearly have that playoff mentality already, which is serving them well in every facet of the game, including special teams. Can the Lightning keep up those numbers forever? No, but they absolutely have the pieces to remain one of the top clubs on special teams throughout the remainder of the season and playoffs, which is the important thing here.
What’s Next?
The Lightning only have nine games left in the regular season as of today. All of those matchups are important, but some of them might get a bit more attention than others. They have two remaining matchups against playoff hopefuls, the Detroit Red Wings and the Washington Capitals, on April 1 and 13, respectively. The biggest remaining games, though, are the two bouts against the Toronto Maple Leafs that take place on April 3 and the regular season finale on April 17. Those matchups will more than likely decide what seed the Lightning end up with in the playoffs and who they face in the first round. That really should not be their concern, though. They need to keep playing well to lock up a playoff spot. Everything else will take care of itself. If this team continues to play up to its potential, there is no telling how far they can go.
