Loss will leave Stamkos with summer of regrets

No goals in a series in danger of slipping away

• Every now and then, he would think about it.

It would be summer and he would be trying to enjoy the time off, but his mind would keep wandering back to the Stanley Cup Final and what could have been. What if the defenceman had not got his stick on a shot that was heading for an open net? What if that puck had not hit the post?

What if, Rick Nash thought to himself, he had been able to score even just once?

“I think I’d be lying if I said that it wasn’t in the back of my mind all summer,” Rick Nash told the New York Post in October after the New York Rangers forward went without a goal in a 4-1 series loss to the Los Angeles Kings. “One goal. You never know how one goal could have affected the series.”

A similar fate could be waiting for Steven Stamkos, whose Tampa Bay Lightning are down 3-2 to the Chicago Blackhawks in the Stanley Cup Final.

Stamkos has often talked about how the 1-0 overtime loss to the Boston Bruins in Game 7 of the 2011 Eastern Conference final stuck with him all summer. (“I remember a week later watching the Stanley Cup Final thinking that could have been us,” he said. “How we would have beat Vancouver if we were there”). But if the Lightning were to lose Game 6 on Monday night, the level of regret would be even higher, if only because the team is that much closer.

As it stands, the Lightning captain has been wearing the disappointment and frustrations that come with having no goals and just one assist in a series that is in danger of slipping away.

Tampa’s leading scorer, Tyler Johnson, is playing with an undisclosed injury that prevents him from taking faceoffs. And Nikita Kucherov, second in scoring, is questionable to play in Game 6 after slamming his shoulder and neck against the goalpost on Saturday’s 2-1 loss.

That leaves Stamkos, whose stick has gone cold at the worst possible time, to carry the offensive load.

Stamkos has had plenty of chances to score in this series. He had five shots in Game 1. And he almost forced overtime in Game 4 with a one-timer that was headed towards an open net, before it deflected wide off Brent Seabrook’s stick. But during these playoffs, he has not been able to produce anywhere near the level that he is used to.

Stamkos, who has 18 points in 25 games, is ranked fifth on the team with seven goals. After starting the playoffs on an eight-game drought, he is also one game away from ending it on an eight-game drought.

“You have to find a way,” Stamkos said after being limited to just one shot in Game 5. “We had some looks at the end, it’s just not good enough to get looks right now. We have to find a way. We have to find a way to score some goals.

“It starts with me. I’ve got to be better.”

A two-time Rocket Richard Trophy winner who finished second in the league with 43 goals this year, Stamkos led the Lightning with 72 points in the regular season. But he has struggled for consistency in the playoffs. Stamkos had three goals and seven points in six games against the Montreal Canadiens, and he had four goals and seven points in seven games against the New York Rangers.

But while Tampa Bay was able to survive his seven-game slump against the Detroit Red Wings, the Lightning might lack the firepower to do the same against the Blackhawks.

Tampa Bay headed into the Stanley Cup final averaging 2.8 goals per game. But the Blackhawks, who had allowed 3.2 goals per game in the first three rounds, have held the Lightning to just 2.0 goals per game.

It is not just Stamkos who needs to step up. If Kucherov cannot play, Jonathan Drouin will be asked to play a bigger offensive role. And the way head coach Jon Cooper has been balancing the lineup, everyone from Ryan Callahan and Cedric Paquette to Brian Boyle and Brenden Morrow is expected to contribute more.

“Stammer’s a huge part of this,” said Cooper. “He’s trying to score like everybody else. He gave it everything he had. So did everybody else. We’re struggling to score right now.”

Yes, as a team, the Lightning are struggling to score.

But it is Stamkos, who led Tampa Bay and Chicago forwards in ice time in Game 5, who has the greatest pressure. And if the Lightning are unable to win in Game 6, it will be Stamkos who will likely be carrying the biggest regrets.