The Last Five Successful Penalty Shots in Tampa Bay Lightning History

Brandon Hagel opened up the 2023-24 Tampa Bay Lightning season with an opening night penalty shot conversion in the Lightning’s 5-3 win over Nashville. Tampa Bay has not had a ton of success on penalty shots in recent years which are already rare to be given to begin with. But just how rare was seeing a penalty shot goal from Tampa Bay?  This was just the fifth successful attempt under Jon Cooper since he took over the Lightning bench in 2013.

In addition to Hagel, another penalty shot was granted on Wednesday in Carolina. Jesper Fast was unsuccessful in his attempt but it makes you wonder if the league is going to begin to be more willing to grant penalty shots than they have in the past. The league wants offense and being a little more lenient on penalty shots may be another way to inject some extra excitement into the game.

Let’s look back at the Lightning’s previous five successful shootout attempts prior to Hagel’s on opening night.

Cory Conacher, Feb. 3, 2018.

Cory Conacher became a bit of a fan favorite in his two different stints in Tampa Bay. Conacher’s penalty shot goal in the third period put the game out of reach as the Lightning went on to a 4-2 win in Vancouver in 2018

Conacher’s penalty shot goal was his first and only penalty shot attempt in his journeyman career. Conacher played in 193 games in the NHL with 87 of them coming with the Lightning. Conacher was also a member of Jon Cooper’s 2012 Norfolk Admirals team that dominated the AHL and won the Calder Cup with guys like Tyler Johnson, Ondrej Palat and Radko Gudas.

Steven Stamkos, Feb. 28, 2016

Although not the most famous penalty shot of his career, Steven Stamkos’ last penalty shot attempt and conversion came on this attempt in 2016. Stamkos displayed some pretty impressive hands and patience to wait out Tuukka Rask.

Stamkos’ penalty shot goal secured a 4-1 win for the Lightning in Boston in a building that has haunted Stamkos over the years. Fast forward to 3:15 on this video to see the penalty and eventual conversion from the Lightning captain.

Cedric Paquette, Feb. 23, 2016

Just five days before Stamkos converted on his penalty shot in Boston in 2016, Cedric Paquette did the same on home ice. Paquette’s attempt was the first of his career and he looked like a veteran while doing so. To add the icing on the cake, Paquette’s goal came against Louis Domingue who would become a Lightning teammate in 2017.

Paquette’s goal would end up being the game winner as the Lightning defeated Arizona 2-1 behind 29 saves from Andrei Vasilevskiy who was still a backup at the time.

Vincent Lecavalier, April 8, 2011

You have to go back to 2011 for the last successful penalty shot before Paquette’s in 2016. Probably the best goal of the bunch comes from the best player of the bunch, Vinny Lecavalier. Lecavalier’s 13 career penalty shot attempts are the most in Lightning history and he converted on five of them.

Lecavalier’s second period penalty shot would hold up as the game winner in the Lightning’s final home game of the 2010-11 regular season as the Lightning defeated the Panthers 4-2.