The Tampa Bay Lightning are 4 wins away from becoming the first team to three-peat since the 80’s New York Islanders but will become the first to do so in the salary cap era if they pull it off. The Colorado Avalanche, looking for their first Stanley Cup since 2001, stand in the way. Before things get underway, the writers of Bolts by The Bay discussed some of the biggest questions for the Lightning entering the series.
Which player needs to step up in scoring for the Lightning to win?
Noah Wilson: I’m picking Alex Killorn. He only has four assists with no goals so far this series. Usually, we see Killorn put up more than four points at this point, let alone a goal, so he needs to step up some more to give the Lightning a better chance at beating such a high caliber Avalanche team
Henry Yoho: Victor Hedman. It’s hard to say the scoring has dried up for one of the league’s best blue liners when he’s still close to a point per game. The offensive output has slowed down a bit since round one. There’s still not another defenseman I’d want on my team, but the Lightning could use a little more output from him on the back end. I believe that starts with calling his own number on the power play a bit more.
Stephen Parrino: I think Killorn is the obvious answer here, but I believe a Brandon Hagel breakout could happen at any time. Outside of his empty net score in Game 5 against the Rangers, Hagel’s only other goal was in Game 2 of the Toronto series. He is still playing great defense and generating tons of opportunities along with the rest of Cirelli’s line, but out of everyone he feels like the most snakebitten and just needs a little puck luck to go his way and things could really open up for him.