Lightning serving notice as Cup contender with latest surge

WASHINGTON -- The Tampa Bay Lightning have found a winning formula that is serving notice to the rest of the NHL that they’re capable of making another run at the Stanley Cup this season.

The Lightning (36-21-4) have gone from a team battling for a wild card spot in the Eastern Conference to pushing toward the top of the Atlantic Division by going 10-1-1 in their past 12 games heading into their game against the Buffalo Sabres at Amalie Arena on Thursday (7 p.m. ET; ESPN).

Tampa Bay trails both the Florida Panthers and Toronto Maple Leafs by three points for first in the Atlantic.

“It’s a pretty confident group,” Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. “A lot of people think of the Tampa Bay Lightning as scoring a bunch of goals, but we’re doing with defense. That’s been the key for us in this little stretch and couldn’t be coming at a better time as we’re going down the stretch here and trying to solidify a playoff spot. So, hopefully, we can just keep this going.”

Led by forward Nikita Kucherov, who is third in the NHL with 90 points (28 goals, 62 assists) in 58 games this season, the Lightning are still a dangerous team offensively. They are fourth in the League in scoring during the 12-game surge, averaging 3.83 goals per game.

Forward Brandon Hagel is tied with Leon Draisaitl and Alex Ovechkin for the NHL lead in goals since Jan. 30 with 10 and has 17 points in the 12 games, including 14 (eight goals, six assists) during the Lightning’s eight-game winning streak that ended with a 2-1 loss to the Panthers on Monday. Kucherov, the 2019 winner of the Hart Trophy as the NHL most valuable player and runner-up last season, has 16 points (five goals, 11 assists) in the past 12 games, including one goal and two assists in a 6-2 win against the Columbus Blue Jackets on Tuesday.

But as Cooper mentioned, Tampa Bay’s success is rooted in its defense and goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy. The Lightning lead the NHL since Jan. 30 in allowing 1.67 goals per game.

“Defense wins championships,” defenseman Victor Hedman said. “It's a long way from that, but obviously playing this way, you've got to feel comfortable playing in a 1-0 game. It's fun. When you have confidence and things are going your way and you get to these situations where you're up 1-0 and you feel comfortable going over the boards and you don't tense up, that's a very good thing.”

Hedman knows of what he speaks. He’s part of the remaining core of the Lightning teams that won the Stanley Cup in 2020 and 2021 and reached the Stanley Cup Final in 2022 before losing to the Colorado Avalanche in six games.

Tampa Bay has not won a series in the Stanley Cup Playoffs since reaching that 2022 Cup Final and made some changes after losing to the Florida Panthers in the Eastern Conference First Round last season. The Lightning opted not to re-sign forward Steven Stamkos, their longtime captain who signed with the Nashville Predators, and signed forward Jake Guentzel to a seven-year, $63 million contract.

Tampa Bay also traded defenseman Mikhail Sergachev to the Utah Hockey Club for defenseman J.J. Moser and rookie forward Conor Geekie and reacquired defenseman Ryan McDonagh, a valuable member of its team that came within two wins of a Cup three-peat in 2022, in a trade with Nashville.

Then on Wednesday, they reunited with Yanni Gourde, a key contributor to the back-to-back Cup winners, when they acquired the 33-year-old forward and 29-year-old forward Oliver Bjorkstrand from the Seattle Kraken as part of a three-team trade also involving the Detroit Red Wings.

The result has been a deeper, more balanced team.

“For my money, they’re as good a team as we’ve faced this year,” Washington Capitals coach Spencer Carbery said after losing 3-1 to the Lightning on March 1. “I think their team is extremely formidable.”

The NHL Trade Deadline is Friday at 3 p.m. ET.

It hasn’t been all smooth sailing for the Lightning this season. They went 6-9-1 from Dec. 29-Jan. 28, scoring 2.44 goals per game (26th in NHL) and allowing 3.00 per game (tied for 18th).

“I don’t think there was a stretch there where we felt we were playing bad hockey,” Hagel said. “It was a stretch that was kind of like, I thought we played (good) enough to win, but it just didn’t come. So, the belief in this room never left. We knew we were a good hockey team. We knew if we stuck with it that good things would come, and they’ve obviously started to come.”

A recommitment to the kind of defense necessary to win in the playoffs turned Tampa Bay from borderline playoff team to potential Cup contender.

“I think if we want to have any chance of winning -- A., getting in, and B., winning -- we’re going to have to play like this,” Cooper said. “It’s like four-lines deep and the guys have to understand, the guys that are used to putting the puck in the net have to play the other side of the puck as well and they’ve been doing that. So, a tribute to them and, ultimately, we’re getting the saves when we need them.”

Vasilevskiy, who won the Vezina Trophy voted as the best goaltender in the NHL in 2019 and has been a finalist four times, has emerged as a contender for the award again this season. The 30-year-old is second in the NHL in wins (29-16-3) and goals-against average (2.18), tied for second in shutouts (four) and second in save percentage (.924).

Vasilevskiy is 9-1-1 with 1.64 GAA, .946 save percentage and two shutouts since Jan. 30.

“Every game he’s in the net, you have a chance to win just because he’s in there,” Hagel said. “Yeah, we have a good hockey team, but obviously he’s taken his game to the next level, and I think we’re doing a little bit better job around him. Prior to that, he was still playing unbelievable. I think on us maybe a little bit not defending as much as we should and there were some goals going in that it wasn’t his fault, it was our fault.

“So, I think everyone just as a group has come together and yet again he’s the best goalie in the world so he’s going to bail you out more times than not.”