Tampa Bay Lightning Continues To Shine During Playoff Push
The Lightning have seriously tightened up their defense, letting in just 1.67 goals per game across their last 12 games. That’s way better than their earlier 2.84 average. With 9 wins in their last 10 games, they’re right on the heels of the Atlantic Division leaders, only three points behind.
They’ve locked things down for six straight games now, giving up no more than two goals, looking a lot like their defense during that 2021 championship run.
The goals are coming from all over these days. The bottom two lines have chipped in big, scoring nine times in the last ten games. Just look at that Columbus game: They jumped out to a quick two-goal lead on their way to winning 6-2.
“Scoring two in the first minute and a half was big for us,” said Lightning captain Victor Hedman. “We got the puck in the zone and got close to the net. We wanted to do the same thing in the second and we got two quick ones and we’re able to hem them in. If you can do that, good things will happen.”
In goal, Johansson looked sharp coming back from his five-week layoff from injury, stopping 31 shots. He’s now got a 7-5-1 record this season. Vasilevskiy continues to shine with a .924% save percentage.
Getting McDonagh back on defense has been huge. The timing couldn’t be better as they try to catch Boston and Toronto for the division title. And now the team welcomes back another Stanley Cup champion, Yanni Gourde, who was traded back to the Lightning from the Seattle Kraken yesterday (3/5). Although Yanni only has 6 goals on the season (battling injuries and playing on a mediocre team), he has proven himself in the playoffs to be a great two-way forward.
The new guys have finally found their groove in the system. You can see that championship DNA showing up again in how they play.
