The swagger is back for Bolts
Steven Stamkos already had released his frustration with an emphatic fist pump late in Tuesday’s game against the Predators, his slump-busting goal having tied the score.
But as the Lightning and Predators prepared for overtime, Stamkos took a minute for trash talk by the benches with childhood buddy P.K. Subban, who has one of the league’s best one-timers.
“I told him, ‘I’ve got a Subban shot,’” Stamkos said, smiling, after Tampa Bay’s 4-3 overtime victory.
With back-to-back wins in Chicago and Nashville, the Lightning has its swagger back. And so does Stamkos. This was Stamkos’ signature moment this season.
He has 17 other goals. None of the others had been this meaningful. None had been this late in a game. And none had been in this calendar year.
“Any time you go on a drought like I was in, it’s frustrating,” Stamkos said. “I’ve just been trying to play the game the right way. So it was extra special to get a goal that meant that much and then to get the monkey off my back, so to say, was a nice feeling.”
Stamkos’s slump coincided with the toughest stretch of the season for Tampa Bay. The Lightning entered Tuesday having lost five of its previous eight, with Stamkos minus-4 in those games.
Stamkos said last week he needed to be better and lead the way. And Tuesday, boy did he. The Lightning was playing without top defenceman Victor Hedman (lower-body injury) and forward Ondrej Palat (lower-body injury). Rookie defenceman Mikhail Sergachev was a healthy scratch, and Tampa Bay was playing backup goalie Louis Domingue against one of the best teams in the league.
Stamkos had shown flashes of breaking out in the past few games, including a four-shot effort in a 2-0 win Monday at Chicago.
It carried into Tuesday, when Stamkos beautifully set up Vladislav Namestnikov on a 2-on-1 for the tying goal midway through the first period. Cooper turned to Stamkos at intermission: “‘Stammer,’ you’re feeling it tonight. When you get open, keep shooting the puck.’”
Stamkos has welcomed the role reversal as a playmaker for a good part of this National Hockey League season, especially while playing alongside fellow all-star Nikita Kucherov. Stamkos was just happy to be playing, period, after missing most of last season following knee surgery. His 38 assists are his highest in a season since a career-high 46 in 2010-11.
But Stamkos hasn’t lost his shot, especially from his office in the left circle.
So when Stamkos wound up to shoot with three minutes left in regulation Tuesday, Domingue knew what was coming. Top shelf. Bar down. In. Nashville goalie Juuse Saros had no chance.
“Since I’ve been here, I haven’t seen a big one-timer like that. I was waiting for it,” Domingue said. “I knew he had it in him. What a key moment to do so. So it was good to see.”