Tampa Bay Lightning Year In Review: The Triplets

We’ve seen what they can do on an individual level. Now, let’s take a look at the season had by the *Tampa Bay Lightning’s most veritable force, The Triplets.***

In the National Hockey League, each line on a team is crafted with care by the Head Coach and serves a particular purpose on the team. There is one line on the Tampa Bay Lightning that seems to almost always go above and beyond the call of duty and has become a veritable force in the NHL, The Triplets.

Over the course of the last couple of weeks, we have taken a look back at the 2014-15 season; not only the top moments from said season, but the players as well. We have already taken a look at the individual accomplishments of players like Tyler Johnson, Nikita Kucherov, and Ondrej Palat, but now we are going to change things up a bit and take a look at their accomplishments as a line.

Saying that “The Triplets” are the most veritable force the Tampa Bay Lightning has in their armory may actually be the understatement of the century. They started out as a group of young guys who were looking to make their mark in the National Hockey League and before anyone even knew what happened they were taking over the place.

The dominance of The Triplets started off pretty early in the season. In the first ten games of the 2014-15 season, The Triplets had already accounted for 8 goals and 20 assists for a total of 28 points.

The crowning jewel of this achievement came on October 28^th as the Tampa Bay Lightning took on the Arizona Coyotes and Nikita Kucherov scored his first career hat trick to elevate the Lightning to a 7-3 win over the Coyotes.

As the season pressed on, things began to look better and better for the Tampa Bay Lightning’s young stars. By the time the regular season ended, Johnson and Kucherov would lead the pack with 29 goals apiece, followed by Ondrej Palat with 16. This would give The Triplets a combined 74 goals in the regular season.

Combine this with their 126 assists and The Triplets would come out with a combined total of 200 points in the regular season. Allow us to put that into perspective for you. The Tampa Bay Lightning scored a total of 259 goals in the regular season. This means that The Triplets accounted for just a little over a third of the Lightning’s goals.

When the post season got into full swing, it was crystal clear that The Triplets were not done amazing Tampa Bay Lightning fans just yet. In fact, they decided to go on a record breaking spree.

Tyler Johnson showed the entire National Hockey League why size doesn’t matter in the game of hockey. Johnson became the first player in Tampa Bay Lightning history to score a hat trick in the post season. Also, Johnson became the first player in Lightning history to score both a short-handed and a Power Play goal in a single playoff period.

As if all of that wasn’t amazing enough, Johnson outscored former Tampa Bay Lightning forwards Brad Richards and Ruslan Fedotenko to score the most post season goals in Lightning history. It really doesn’t get much more amazing than that.

The Tampa Bay Lightning scored a total of 65 goals in the post season. Of those 65 goals, 31 of them belonged to The Triplets. This means that these three players were responsible for slightly over half of the Tampa Bay Lightning’s post season production.

We could continue to go on and on for hours about the majesty of The Triplets, but the only way you can ever truly get a real look at what they can accomplish on the ice is to see it for yourself. The good news is, as of today we only have 71 more days to wait until we can see it again.

Do you think The Triplets are one of the most veritable forces in the National Hockey League? Could they be the Tampa Bay Lightning’s answer to Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane? How many goals do you think they’ll be responsible for next season? Let us know what you think in the comments below.

Next: Round Table: Who Will Lead The Charge Next Season?

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We’ve seen what they can do on an individual level. Now, let’s take a look at the season had by the Tampa Bay Lightning’s most veritable force, The Triplets.

More from Bolts by the Bay

We’ve seen what they can do on an individual level. Now, let’s take a look at the season had by the *Tampa Bay Lightning’s most veritable force, The Triplets.***