TAMPA, Fla. — The Lightning are the reigning back-to-back Stanley Cup champions, but few could have predicted they would be atop the NHL standings without top scorers Nikita Kucherov and Brayden Point.
But that’s where they sit, with a league-high 44 points entering a holiday break that came early after games were postponed due to COVID-19.
A team with this much talent — even without Kucherov and Point — should hardly be considered a true underdog, but this is one way legacies can topple. And the Lightning are far from playing their best hockey. The way they’ve stolen games after being outplayed prompted captain Steven Stamkos to tag the team the “Tampa Bay Find-A-Ways.”
He echoed that sentiment after the last game before the break, a 4-3 comeback win in Las Vegas that had you wondering how they managed to win.
“It’s just a testament to, you know, what we’ve been through as a group and how we continue to find ways to win and get points,” Stamkos said. “Guys have stepped up. Some really good players are not in the lineup, and we’ve found ways to to continue to have success.”
Here are five stats that help explain how the Lightning found ways to win over the first 10 weeks.
0
— Times Lightning had back-to-back regulation losses
Despite having to shuffle lineups due to injuries, the Lightning continued to, as head coach Jon Cooper says, “munch points.” Even when they lost three straight games early in the year, one was a shootout loss, so they netted a point. Since then, they’ve been on roll, accumulating points in 21 of their last 24 games heading into the break. They’ve had to play a lot of overtime and shootout games (going 7-4) to accomplish that, but their consistency has taken them to the top of the league standings.
3
— Games Lightning overcame a two-goal deficit to win, second only to Vegas (4)
Even without their typical firepower, no lead is safe against the Lightning. Even when they’re not playing well, they can strike quickly and score in bunches. That’s what happened Thursday against the Golden Knights, when they erased a 3-1 deficit with goals on back-to-back shifts. Remember the second game of the season, when Tampa Bay fell behind 3-0 in Detroit in the first eight minutes, only to win 7-6 on Ondrej Palat’s overtime goal? The game sent a message that this team is capable of coming back no matter how far it falls behind.
102.3
— Lightning’s PDO in 5-on-5 situations
PDO gauges how well a team plays 5-on-5. It’s the sum of a team’s save percentage and its shooting percentage. The Lightning have one of the league’s best, ranking second only to the Capitals (102.4). The statistic also hints at how much better they could be if they spent less time in the penalty box. The Lightning have a .939 save percentage in 5-on-5 situations, third-best in the league. It’s a testament to not only goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy, but also backup Brian Elliott, who has been a significant upgrade over Curtis McElhinney.
11-0-4
— Lightning’s record in one-goal games
The Lightning’s mantra has been that if they keep games close, they’ll always have a chance. Their confidence comes mainly from knowing Vasilevskiy will make impactful saves at the most critical times. We’ve seen it in the waning moments of close games, game-saving stops with Tampa Bay down by a goal, tied or clinging to a lead. With their goaltender making clutch plays behind them, the Lightning can be aggressive offensively, and it’s allowed them to pull out wins. More amazing, all four of their one-goal losses came in overtime or shootouts, so they were able to get points in each case.
177
— High-danger scoring chances allowed
When the Lightning are allowing too many odd-man rushes and wide-open scoring chances, we know. Cooper is very honest when his team is sloppy with the puck. But this season, they’ve mostly played well defensively and avoided allowing high-danger chances. In fact, they’ve yielded the seventh-fewest in the NHL. Only 18 high-danger chances have resulted in goals, third-fewest in the league. Defense wins championships, and they’ve played well overall on that side of the puck, keeping Vasilevskiy out of harm’s way.
