On December 6th the Tampa Bay Lightning lost to the Detroit Red Wings, 4-2 thanks to a 44-save effort from Ville Husso. Since then, the Lightning haven’t lost at home. With their 5-2 win over the Los Angeles Kings on Saturday, Tampa Bay has set a new franchise record with 12 straight home victories.
They cruise into their bye week with a three-game winnings streak and broke the home-winning streak record that they had set in the in the 2019-20 season when they won 11 straight from December 23, 2019 to February 15, 2020). All three of their wins on the current home stand were against teams they hadn’t beaten yet this year, including the top team in the league, the Boston Bruins.
They’ve been firing on pretty much all cylinders at home, averaging 4.33 goals per game while only allowing 2.00 to their opponents. Their power play is clicking at 35.3% while they are killing off 93.6% of their times shorthanded. All of those stats rank first or second in the league over that time frame. Not too shabby at all.
Their 5v5 possession stats are equally impressive as they’ve controlled the scoring chances (55.21%), high-danger chances (60.87%), and expected goals (54.85%). They’ve really cut down on the high-danger chances against, averaging just 10.87 per 60 minutes of play. One of the keys to their success has been staying out of the box as they are averaging 4.22 penalties taken per 60 minutes at home versus 5.45 on the road.
The best players have been their best players as Nikita Kucherov is leading the way with 24 points (4 goals, 20 assists). Brayden Point has 12 goals while Steven Stamkos has 14 points (5 goals, 9 assists) and has an 11-game point streak overall. Victor Hedman is quietly racking up the points as he has 2 goals and 12 assists over the 12 home games.
In net Andrei Vasilevskiy has 10 of the wins and has posted a .937 SV% and 2.09 GAA. Brian Elliott has been outstanding in the 2 wins he’s picked up during the streak with a .951 SV% and 1.51 GAA.
The home faithful will have to wait awhile to see if the Bolts can run the streak to a lucky 13. Due to the bye week and All-Star Weekend, the next tilt at Amalie Arena isn’t until February 7th when they take on the San Jose Sharks.
Lightning / NHL News
Lightning beat Kings,5-2 [Raw Charge]
It was a strong night for rookie Nick Perbix as he picked up 3 assists.
Coach Cooper’s postgame press conference [NHL.com]
“We’re a much better team than we were on Day One.” The coach likes the consistency that he’s seeing from the team right now.
Pierre-Edouard Bellemare’s answers questions after the game [NHL.com]
After speaking about the play of the team and the fact that they didn’t let up with the break on the horizon, Bellemare revealed that his mother passed away a few days ago. Condolances to the family.
Nick Perbix’s presser [NHL.com]
“The more you play, the more reps you get, the more comfortable you get.”
Meet the woman creating works of art for NHL goaltenders [NHL.com]
You may not know the name Sylvie Marsolais, but you’ve seen here work at every Lightning game. Along with her partner, Alexandre Mathys, she’s been working with NHL clients, including Andrei Vasilevskiy, for years.
Lightning’s Hedman finding his legs as he nears milestone [Tampa Bay Times]
Hedman picked up a goal, but no assists so he still sits at 498 helpers for his career, in last night’s game. After a slow start, we’ve seen much more of the Hedman we’re used to of late.
Crunch beat Wolf Pack, 7-3 [Syracuse Crunch]
Seven different Syracuse players scored and Max Lagace stopped 12-of-15 shots as the Crunch topped Hartford a day after getting shutout by Utica. Gabe Fortier led the way with a goal and two assists.
Leafs Murray to undergo tests [TSN.ca]
After losing Auston Matthews to a knee injury, the Toronto Maple Leafs may be without one of their goaltenders for awhile. Matt Murray was pulled from warm-ups yesterday prior to their game against Ottawa and hasn’t appeared in a game since January 17th due to an ankle injury. They have two games left before their break and have seen the Lightning creep within three points of their second place spot (Tampa Bay currently has two games in hand).
