5 Tampa Bay Lightning players who must bring their A-Game to maintain a top-three spot

With 61 points heading into Monday, the Tampa Bay Lightning are just ahead of the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Detroit Red Wings in securing a top-three spot in the Atlantic. And they can pull away from their division rivals with a strong second half of February, but Tampa will maximize those chances if a few players step up and play their best hockey.

Ideally, this run commences now and goes through April, as Toronto could always rebound while the Red Wings look as though they will keep winning. But unfortunately for the Lightning, recent history isn’t on their side as they went 14-14-5 throughout February, March, and April 2023. 

So who must step up their respective games starting now if the Lightning plan on creating space between themselves and Detroit, and Toronto?

Nikita Kucherov must keep up yet another MVP-like performance

Not every great hockey team is lucky enough to boast an MVP-type of player, but the Lightning fortunately have one in Nikita Kucherov. The 30-year-old’s 89 points aren’t just the best on the Lightning; they’re also pacing the league. Therefore, Tampa Bay has the best overall points-producing asset at the moment, and Kucherov can’t afford to slow down at such a pivotal time. 

Better yet, he’s not a situational player, evidenced by the 38 points he has already scored on the power play. Overall for Kucherov, he just needs to keep being the playmaker he’s been all season, and if he keeps up his current run, there may be another Hart Trophy waiting for him once this season is over with. 

But Kucherov doesn’t just make plays happen; he’s also put teammates in better respective positions to score, too. We know this because in all situations, the Lightning have scored 112 goals and they have an incredible 19.7 shooting percentage when Kucherov is on the ice. In short, either he’s making a play, or helping to make sure someone else is. 

Brayden Point’s clutch moments need to increase throughout the final two months

You won’t see Brayden Point hit the 1.15 points per game mark again unless he picks up his play offensively to match Kucherov’s. But by no means does this imply he has been underproducing, as Point still has 54 points and 25 goals in 53 contests this year. Much like last season, Point also has six game-winning goals, putting him halfway to the career-best 12 he scored in 2017-18. 

One of the better clutch players on the Lightning, if Kucherov doesn’t have the puck on his stick in pivotal moments, Point makes for an excellent consolation. Like Kucherov, he’s also been stepping up during times when the Lightning must step up, such as on the power play. Over 35 percent of his points total (19) have come on the man advantage. 

If there is one part of his game that Point must improve, it’s the 2.69 shots on goal per game he’s accumulated so far, down from 2.86 last season. Given that Point is still averaging a monster 17.5 shooting percentage, taking more chances when he has open looks should be a top priority, especially late in games. 

If he improves that one statistic, we should see, on average, Point scoring roughly once out of every six shots on goal. And that productivity will add up for a team that needs to separate itself from the two wild card contenders in the Atlantic. 

Brandon Hagel needs to bring his strongest two-way game

You don’t often see former fifth-round picks make the same type of impact that Brandon Hagel has over his first two seasons with the Lightning. He even scored a few Selke votes last year, so it shows us not just how far the 25-year-old has come, but just how much more room for growth he still has. 

But here is, coming off of a 30-goal season and a two-way game that saw him snag 92 takeaways. But he hasn’t reached the same level this year, logging just 26, or less than one-half a takeaway per game, through 53 contests. Someone must step up more defensively for the Lightning, especially now with Mikhail Sergachev out and the team playing a rather pedestrian game when they don’t have the puck, and a forward with sound defense like Hagel would at least help the matter.

From a scoring standpoint, however, Hagel is enjoying his greatest season to date with 48 points and 19 goals. And while his defense hasn’t been awful, it has to step up and at least come closer to what we have seen from him offensively in 2023-24. Hagel must get just as if not more physical than he was last season when he recorded 68 hits, and he must also start getting sticks on the puck again. 

Andrei Vasilevskiy must keep returning his game to Vezina-contending levels

While the Lightning must find someone like Brandon Hagel to step up defensively, it also wouldn’t hurt them to trade for someone like a defenseman, a defensive-oriented forward, or even another goaltender. But unless a trade occurs, Andrei Vasilevskiy needs to take ownership of the net and rediscover the high level of play that turned him into such a great goaltender in the first place. 

Sure, he had a setback before the season began, which prevented him from making his season debut until November 24th, roughly a month-and-a-half into the year. And no, it’s never easy when your team isn’t playing well defensively, but Vasilevskiy is a former Vezina winner who also placed in the top six for the award for six years running. 

Therefore, it’s time for the 29-year-old to step up and make a few more saves, especially in close contests. To his credit, Vasilevskiy has allowed three or fewer goals in each of his last 10 games, scoring a 0.912 save percentage on 250 saves and 274 shots on goal. He’s also compiled an 8-2-0 record in that span.

So which version of Andrei Vasilevskiy will we see for the next two months? The player who has looked like he’s returned to his Vezina ways lately, or the one who compiled just a 9-9-0 record with an 0.895 save percentage between November 24th and January 6th?