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What Is The True Impact Of The Triplets On The Tampa Bay Lightning?

By Tasha St. Pierre|

The Tampa Bay Lightning find themselves in a pretty comfortable position at this point in the season; they sit atop the Eastern Conference in points, third place in the National Hockey League in points, and poised for a pretty solid run at the post season if they continue to play the way they have thus far.

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The Tampa Bay Lightning also sit atop the National Hockey League in goals through the first 48 games of the season. The Lightning currently have 154 goals on the books so far this season. This is in no small part thanks to one particular line; the Triplets.

We all know that they are arguably the best line that the Tampa Bay Lightning has going right now, but just what is the true impact of players like Tyler Johnson, Ondrej Palat, and Nikita Kucherov on the team and their ability to persevere?

When you break it down, it seems as if their impact is pretty significant.

Leading the pack on the Triplet line is center Tyler Johnson. Johnson has 17 goals and 31 assists for a total of 48 points in the 46 games that he’s played so far this season. As if that wasn’t amazing enough, the twenty four year old center has a Plus-26 rating.

Johnson’s partner in crime Ondrej Palat is no slouch himself. In the 44 games that he’s suited up for so far this season with the Tampa Bay Lightning, he has already scored 11 goals and 25 assists for a total of 36 points to accompany his Plus-23 rating.

Last, but most certainly not least, we have right wing Nikita Kucherov. The twenty one year old Russian winger has 17 goals and 26 assists for a total of 43 points along with his whopping Plus-28 rating.

So…let’s take a look at what this means as a cohesive unit. This means that the Triplets are responsible for 45 goals through the 48-game mark this season. Taking into consideration that the Lightning leads the League in goals with 154, this means that the Triplets are responsible for around 29% of the Lightning’s goals.

That’s right ladies and gentlemen…one single offensive line accounts for over a quarter of the team’s scoring prowess. If that doesn’t say something about this line as a whole, we don’t know what does.

Anyone who has ever seen these guys play, which if you’re reading this you have at least seen them play once, you know that the chemistry between these guys is uncanny. There has been more than one instance over the course of the season where they have made completely blind passes to each other that have resulted in numerous goals.

We always knew the pairing of Johnson and Palat was a magical thing, but it seems as if the introduction of Kucherov has taken things to a whole new level.

This is not to say that there aren’t plenty of other players that have contributed to the Lightning’s winning ways this season. Players like captain Steven Stamkos, Ryan Callahan, Valtteri Filppula, Anton Stralman, Alex Killorn, Victor Hedman and so many more have made incredible contributions to the team this season; however, it is plain to see that the Triplets are invaluable to the Bolts.

At this point, Tyler Johnson and Ondrej Palat are in place through 2017, but Nikita Kucherov’s deal comes to an end in 2016. This is something that Lightning Vice President and General Manager Steve Yzerman needs to get on as soon as possible.

We don’t know about you, but we feel like the Triplets are not only the present, but also the future of the Tampa Bay Lightning and we would like to see them in Lightning blue for many years to come.

What are your thoughts on the matter? Would you like to see the Triplets as members of the Tampa Bay Lightning long term? Do you think they are inevitably the future of the organization? Let us know what you think in the comments below.

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