Stamkos has learned tough playoff lessons
TAMPA — Ask Steven Stamkos what he remembers about his past playoff experience and he does not talk about the big goals he scored or the time when the Tampa Bay Lightning rolled past Pittsburgh’s Sidney Crosby and Washington’s Alex Ovechkin on their way to the 2011 Eastern Conference final. No, he brings up the 1-0 Game 7 loss to Boston and how close he came to playing for the Stanley Cup.
And ultimately, how far away he actually was.
“I remember a week later watching the Stanley Cup final thinking that could have been us,” Stamkos said, “how we would have beat Vancouver if we were there. All those thoughts creep into your head. And then you say, ‘OK, we’ll get there next year,’ and we don’t even make the playoffs for the next two years. And then we get swept last year.”
At 25, Stamkos is still young. But, as he joked, he no longer seems that young anymore. He has seen things in his seven seasons in the NHL. He’s had his leg shattered, said goodbye to longtime teammates and had plenty of coaches come and go. He’s played nearly 500 regular season games and won two goal-scoring titles. But Stamkos has also watched with pangs of regret as his peers — Drew Doughty and Tyler Seguin among them — have captured the only hardware that really matters to him.
“It’s extremely tough. I haven’t been to a final in seven years,” he said. “That’s a burning desire to get there.”
A big part of Stamkos believes this is his time to win now. The Lightning have a team that is still growing and getting better. But that close call in 2011 is a nice reminder that the window of opportunity can slam shut in a hurry.
You never know what is going to happen, he said. Last year, the Lightning seemed poised for a long playoff run. But then goaltender Ben Bishop got hurt and Stamkos never fully recovered from a broken leg and they were bounced in the first round.
This year, everything seems to be falling into place. This team is the most talented and deepest roster that he has played with. While Stamkos led the Lightning with 43 goals and 72 points, the emergence of the Triplets’ line of Tyler Johnson, Nikita Kucherov and Ondrej Palat means the two-time Rocket Richard Trophy winner does not have to always score goals for the team to have success.
Not that Stamkos has vanished in these playoffs. Quite the opposite, really.
He might have gone without a goal in a first-round series against Detroit, but since then the Lightning captain has scored five goals and 11 points in the last nine games.
Part of his success lately has been a move from centre to the wing on a line with Valtteri Filppula and Alex Killorn, which has freed Stamkos up from certain defensive responsibilities. But the bigger part is his experience is paying off.
“As much as you want to think you know what playoffs are like, you really have to go through it,” said Stamkos. “It’s about sacrifice. It’s about work ethic. It’s about being willing to do anything to help your team win.”
For Stamkos, it is about leaving it all out there. You do not want to go into the summer and think what could have been.