Bolts by the Bay
Fansided

Mid-Season Report Card Has Tampa Bay Lightning Near Head Of The NHL Class

By Angelo Resciniti

facebooktwitterreddit

Is The Cup half empty or half filled?

Considering the stellar first half of the 2014-15 NHL season enjoyed by the Tampa Bay Lightning, I’d say The Cup is definitely half filled.

More from Lightning News

The Bolts start the second half of their Cup Quest with a most apropos opponent Tuesday night with a heart-pumping match-up in Montreal versus Les Habitants.

After all, it was the Canadiens who put the upstart Lightning team in its place and out of the playoffs last season with an unceremonious 4-0 sweep of a first-round series.

Tuesday’s game is their first meeting in Montreal since, with the Bolts beating up the Habs on home ice in October and still to face Montreal thrice more this season. And, of course, the two teams are tied for the lead in the Atlantic Division with 54 points as they tee it off on Tuesday.

But that is enough of looking ahead right now. Let’s take a Lightning Lookback at the first half of the heretofore successful season, issue some grades, and savor some victories before moving into the second half of 82 back-to-back-to-back games.

THE RECORD: A+
The Bolts own a 25-12-4 record at the halfway point, tied for the best record in team history with last year’s squad. ‘Nuff said.

THE STANDINGS: A
With their 54 points, the Bolts are tied with Montreal for first place in the Atlantic Division as well as the entire Eastern Conference. Anaheim leads the NHL with 58 points. The Chicago Blackhawks and Nashville Predators are tied with Tampa Bay and Montreal, making the Lightning one of the top five teams in the league. I’ll take it.

THE OFFENSE: A+

The Lightning lead the NHL with 134 goals and rank third in goal differential with a +26. An offense can’t be much better than that.

THE POWER PLAY: B
The Bolts have had the most power play opportunities in the league so far but have scored only 18.1% of the time, about average in the NHL. The goal is always to break 20% to be considered excellent and the Bolts just aren’t there yet. Too much passing and too little shooting seems to be the problem, in a nutshell. A team with this much fire power should convert more often.

THE DEFENSE: B
The Bolts have allowed 108 goals, about middle of the pack in the league. But the defensive play is much improved from last season and has been stifling at times, especially of late. Opponents still get free in the slot too often and the goaltenders still face too many odd-man rushes and point-blank shots.

THE PENALTY KILL: B
At 81.4% on the PK the Bolts rank in the middle of the league, but that’s still a better-than-average percentage overall.

THE GOALTENDING: B

Ben Bishop is having a very good season, but he does not seem to have that elite edge that made him a Vezina Trophy finalist last season. Still, he owns an impressive 19-6 won-loss record despite his rather pedestrian 2.37 GAA and .911 save percentage. And he only has one shut-out.

He has not been the stopper the Bolts had hoped for, especially early in games. He often plays big when the pressure mounts, but it might be nice to avoid some of that pressure altogether. For the Bolts to go the distance this season Bish will have to steal some 1-0 and 2-1 wins later on when goals become scarce.

We’ll soon see if he is up to putting the team on his back. Evgeni Nabokov has been on-and-off as Bish’s backup. He is accustomed to being a No. 1 and seeing lots of shots, so if Bishop is injured and Nabokov sees lots of playing time he might return to his championship form. At least that’s what the Bolts are counting on to avoid the debacle of last season.

Andrei Vasilevskiy is the goaltender of the future. He has been lights out in winning three of his four NHL games with a 1.76 GAA and .937 save percentage. The future might start immediately if Bishop goes down and Nabokov can’t muster up his past greatness.

COACHING: B
Jon Cooper has done a really good job of creatively flexing his offensive lines and defensive pairings to give his team the best chance at wins. And he has been unashamedly positive in tone and unfailingly supportive of his players. All of that is awesome. But the team clearly needs to improve in its readiness at the beginning of games, and that is in the coach. An improvement in this area could make the difference in the entire season. A team can only come back from 1-0 and 2-0 deficits so often.

OFFENSIVE MVP: Tyler Johnson
Easy pick,. TJ leads the team (and is 4th in the league) with 43 points and leads the NHL (along with linemate Nikita Kucherov) in plus/minus with a +26. Johnson and Kucherov and third linemate Ondrej Palat (tied for second in the league at +22 plus/minus) might be arguably the best line in the league and unarguably the best young line in the NHL. Led by Johnson, this line plays with speed, grace under pressure, and tireless effort at both ends of the ice.

DEFENSIVE MVP: Anton Stralman
Another easy pick. Stralman came over from the New York Rangers with a reputation for strong defensive play, great ice intelligence, near-perfect positioning, a willingness to lay his body down to block shots, and amazing calm under fire. He has been all of that and more, showing a sharp offensive knack that has resulted in 16 assists, which leads all Tampa Bay defensemen. His plus/minus, still a fine +15, has dropped a little lately. But he is still the epitome of the No. 1 defensive defenseman, something the Bolts have been seeking for a long long time.

TEAM MVP: Steven Stamkos

Leaders lead, and that is what Stammer has been doing this season. He has given up some offensive opportunities to be a team player and his self-sacrifice has not gone unnoticed inside the locker room or out. He clearly would rather win a Stanley Cup than another Rocket Richard Trophy.

Stamkos has beefed up his play at both ends of the ice, waded into the dirty parts of the rink, and taken more than a few hits for his teammates. Yet he still has the ability and fire to carry the whole team, as he flashed in Monday’s 4-2 victory in Ottawa, when he single-handedly turned a 2-2 nail-biter into a Lightning runaway by skating strong around the net, shedding defenders, gliding out front and patiently waiting for goalie Robin Lehner to drop down before wristing the game-winner into a corner of the net. Game over.

Second Half Forecast: Sunny with a Good Chance of a Stanley Cup

Next: Has The Decline Of Ben Bishop Already Begun?

More from Bolts by the Bay

Home/Lightning News