Despite recent struggles, the Tampa Bay Lightning remain the favorite to win the Eastern Conference this season. Can any team in the East stop superstars Nikita Kucherov and Andrei Vasilevskiy as the Bolts make their latest push for another Stanley Cup?
For most of this season, the Tampa Bay Lightning have been the most dangerous team in the Eastern Conference.
But the Bolts haven’t been perfect this season, as evidenced by their 1-4-2 start to the season and by their rough play in their past 15 games. They’ve gone 7-6-2 in that stretch.
But don’t let that swerve you – the road to the Stanley Cup goes through Tampa Bay in the East. And if you’re a team angling to get into the post-season, you’d do well to avoid the Lightning for as long as possible.
Indeed, let’s say you’re the Montreal Canadiens. Are you going to say the Habs should be favored over Tampa when Montreal’s goaltender – whomever that may be – is going up against Andrei Vasilevskiy? To say we disagree would be an understatement.
Or what about the Ottawa Senators, Boston Bruins or Detroit Red Wings – would any of them be favored against the Lightning? No, not at all, not a single one of them. Again, Vasilevskiy would be favored against any one of the Sens, B's or Wings’ goalies? The Lightning will have the edge in netminding regardless of who they take on.
Another factor on Tampa Bay's side would be that the Lightning are going to have the best skater in any series, regardless of who their opponent is in the first round of the post-season. That’s because superstar right winger Nikita Kucherov is having yet another phenomenal season, leading the NHL in assists, with 81, and he’s tied for the league lead in points, with 121.
Kucherov is 23 points away from matching his career-high in points, but while he may not get there, he’s going to get close to it. And this is a player who has 171 points in 152 career playoff games.
The 32-year-old Russian will leave the opposition twisted and torn, and his experience thriving when the games matter most will serve the Lightning very well against any playoff opponent.
Certainly, no team can afford to lose its top defenseman and expect great playoff success. So while we all wish star Bolts D-man Victor Hedman the best as he steps away from the team for an official leave of absence, the Lightning are going to need him back in time for the playoffs, or risk making Vasilevskiy more vulnerable against a star like Montreal’s Cole Caufield, Boston’s David Pastrnak or Ottawa’s Tim Stutzle.
Tampa Bay Lightning (Kim Klement Neitzel-Imagn Images)Still, so long as the Lightning are more or less at full strength, we have to believe all roads in the East in the post-season go through Tampa Bay. The Lightning’s core has done the hard work before, and Bolts coach Jon Cooper always seems to find the right buttons to push. Every team has its flaws, but Tampa Bay has very few of them.
Tampa can’t slouch on any rival team, but at a time when the reigning Cup champs from down the road in Florida almost assuredly won’t get to defend their crown in this season’s playoffs, the Lightning have to be considered the favorite to at least get to the Cup final for the fourth time in the past seven seasons.
There’s no question the Panthers raised the bar last year when it comes to being a modern-day dynasty. But something tells us the Lightning are getting set to re-establish the competitive pecking order in the Sunshine State.
The Bolts are in all-in mode, and they’re going to be extremely difficult for any team to eliminate them this post-season.
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