Lightning playoff extra: Vintage Stamkos, and the power play is back
Three Panthers stars
Camped in front of the Lightning net, Reinhart knocked in a loose puck for the Panthers’ second goal. He finished with a team-high four shots and registered six hits.
With two assists Saturday, Tkachuk — a plus-one in Game 4 — became only the third player in Panthers history with 10 multi-point playoff contests.
Though scoreless Saturday, the Panthers center won 11 of 14 faceoffs and recorded seven hits, finishing at plus-one for the night.
Three Lightning stars
Limited to one point in the first three games, Hagel scored two goals Saturday, including a short-handed one on a blistering wrist shot in the first period. The goal gave Tampa Bay a 2-0 lead, prompting Hagel to slap the glass in celebration with fans.
The 34-year-old captain’s late-season surge continued with two goals, including a wrist shot from atop the right circle with 10:26 remaining to give Tampa Bay a 5-3 lead and nearly seal things. Stamkos has 15 points (eight goals, seven assists) in 20 potential elimination games, the highest goal and point totals among all Lightning players in that situation.
Making his first game appearance since Feb. 7, Sergachev logged 17 serviceable minutes (with an assist and two blocks), but lifted his team emotionally before the puck even dropped. “Did you hear the introduction?” coach Jon Cooper said, referring to the roar of the Amalie Arena crowd when Sergachev’s name was announced. “It was a stirring moment, and I thought we carried that right into the first period.”
Move over, Vinny
With a goal in each of the Lightning’s four playoff games, Stamkos tied Vinny Lecavalier for the franchise’s longest goal streak to start a postseason.
Stamkos has five goals in four contests; Lecavalier had five goals in the first four playoff games of the 2007 postseason. He’s the NHL’s fourth player age 34 or older with a four-game goal streak to begin the postseason, joining Rick Tocchet (1998), Teemu Selanne (2011) and Gordie Howe (1963).
Ice time adds up
Those convinced the grind of three consecutive Stanley Cup finals runs have caught up with the Lightning’s core now have a pretty staggering statistic to validate that notion.
Saturday’s contest was the 164th career playoff game for 33-year-old defenseman Victor Hedman, most in franchise history. That equates to two additional regular seasons (82 games each). His total playoff time on ice (4094:47) ranks sixth all-time in NHL history, just behind Duncan Keith (4095:32).
By the numbers
1 First-period goals totaled by the Lightning in the first three games of this series
3 First-period goals totaled by the Lightning on Saturday
13 First-period shots on goal Saturday by the Lightning, only six fewer than they totaled in the opening period of the first three games
16.7 Tampa Bay’s success rate on the power play (2 of 12) in the first three games of this series
40.0 The Lightning’s power-play success rate Saturday (2 of 5)
20 Power-play goals in the postseason for Stamkos, breaking his tie with Nikita Kucherov for most in Lightning history
101 Career playoff points by Stamkos, who had two goals Saturday. He’s the third player in Lightning history to reach that particular century mark.
They said it
“It’s like goal scorers. Goal scorers are used to scoring goals, but sometimes there’s a little bit of a slump, and sometimes they can get super streaky. And it can be the same thing for a power play. It just gets magnified when it’s in the playoffs.” — Cooper on his team’s resurgent power play Saturday night
“It was a bit of a strange game with the 5-on-4s and the 4-on-4s and the 5-on-3s and things like that. We’re going to have to find a way to stay out of the (penalty) box.” — Panthers coach Paul Maurice, whose team has had two power-play chances (to the Lightning’s nine) in the last two contests
“I think (Cooper) said it: If you don’t believe, then don’t show up. And everyone showed up tonight, and great performance by us.” — Hagel
“There’s a reason he’s going to go down as one of the best captains in the entire National Hockey League. The guy brings it every single night, pushes this team to the max, and he’s been showing it with his performance on the ice every single night, every single game so far this series.” — Hagel on Stamkos
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