The Tampa Bay Lightning had a lot of questions entering the 2024-25 season after losing Steven Stamkos and Mikhail Sergachev in the offseason. While the Lightning added Carolina Hurricanes and former Pittsburgh Penguins star forward Jake Guentzel in a trade involving a third round pick, and Utah's young and growing star defenseman in JJ Moser along with Utah's top prospect in Conor Geekie in the Sergachev trade, fans didn't believe that the Lightning had improved, with many wondering if they would be worse this season.
Though a small sample size, the Tampa Bay Lightning look like a brand new team and one that could compete for a top three spot in the division. Through three games, Tampa has scored 4.00 goals per game and has only allowed 1.67 goals against per game, with Andrei Vasilevskiy playing lights out with a 0.932% save percentage on 73 shots, an impressive number for a goalie who was seen as having a down year last season after missing two months due to injury.
However, Vasilevskiy isn't the only player having a great start to the season. Nikita Kucherov in just three games has six goals and one assist for seven points. Kucherov's new linemate Jake Guentzel has also fit in well with the team through three games as he has 4 assists for four points and has dominated in 5v5 play. New Lightning captain Victor Hedman is also having a strong start to the season with four assists for four points as well.
The Tampa Bay Lightning are going to be a team to contend with all season long
While this is a small sample size in what is a long eighty-two game regular season, this is the best start the Lightning have had in quite a few years and the team looks the best they have since the first half of the 2022-23 season. While the defense and 5v5 play have been some of the best in the league, their one issue is their power play.
Tampa's powerplay is at the bottom half of the league at 15.4%, a very different number than what the Lightning had to end the 2023-24 season with the best power play in the league. Losing Stamkos has proven to hurt the Lightning on the power play, but it has reignited the 5v5 play that Tampa has dominated the league with over the last ten years.
Losing Sergachev also isn't good for the power play, but their new addition in Moser has proven to be a good replacement as he has fit in well with his new team having scored one goal and two assists for three points in just three games. With the defense looking like it did back in their cup-winning days, Lightning fans have a lot to be excited about as they look to continue their winning ways on the road against the Ottawa Senators, a team looking to knock Tampa out of a playoff spot this season to take for themselves.
If this team can keep up this play throughout the season, don't be surprised to see the Lightning become one of the favorites to win the Stanley Cup by the end of the calendar year.