In the third period of Saturday’s game against the Columbus Blue Jackets, Steven Stamkos lined up in his office and waited for Victor Hedman to feed him the puck. The Big Swede put it right in his wheelhouse and Stammer didn’t miss:
The best part was goaltender Elvis Merzlikins looking behind him in disbelief that the puck went into the net. It initially looked like Merzlikins had made the save as the puck hit him in the chest and then slid between his side and arm before trickling over the goal line.
It was Stamkos’ 207th power play goal with the Lightning, a mark that is 16th all-time in the NHL. He now trails Gordie Howe by 4 goals for the 15th spot. As for players that have only played for one team, he is third. Alex Ovechkin is first with 304, Mario Lemieux is second with 236, and then Stamkos. That’s pretty elite company.
It was also his 83rd game-winning goal, which moves him into a tie with Evgeni Malkin, Maurice Richard, and Jean Beliveau for 32nd all-time. If he gets another one, he’ll be tied with Stan Mikita. Again, righteous company for The Captain.
The tally was Stamkos’ 22nd on the season and 12th power play goal. His career-high with the man advantage is 24, set in 2009-10, and he has an outside shot at matching that number with just under 30 game remaining.
He’s probably not going to catch Ovechkin, but how high up the charts could he finish. If he signs a six-year deal this summer, he could very likely get close to former teammate Dave Andreychuk’s 274. Stamkos has averaged about 12 power-play goals a year over the last five seasons and there is no reason to believe he can’t keep that pace going, especially if Hedman and Nikita Kucherov are by his side the entire way.
Also helping him is the fact that no active players is that close to him or likely to pass him anytime soon. Among active players Evgeni Malkin is the closest to Stamkos and he has 176 and has only hit double-digits in PPGs once in the last six years. Stamkos’s shot from the circle isn’t likely to fade anytime soon. According to NHL Edge stats he has 28 shots this season that have been between 90-100 MPH which is on pace with the 54 he had last year.
Few other teams can offer him the same talent around him on the power play as the Lightning can, for that reason alone he should sign with them.
More Hockey News
Crunch defeat Amerks in overtime, again [The AHL]
A night after Waltteri Merelä provided the overtime herorics, it was Cole Koepke who sent the home crowd into hysterics as he scored 18 seconds into the extra frame to give the Crunch a 3-2 victory. For the second night in a row the Amerks went ahead early as Lukas Rousek and Brett Murray scored in the first five minutes of the game.
Lucas Edmonds began the come back with his 4th goal of the season:
Then Jack Thompson tied it with his fifth of the season:
Devon Levi and Hugo Alnefelt took over from there, combining for 38 saves over the next two periods. Levi finished with 33 saves on the night while Alnefelt stopped 23. Off the opening face-off in overtime, Koepke secured a rebound off of Declan Carlile’s shot and beat Levi for the win.
Lightning win 4-2 [Raw Charge]
Tampa Bay outlasted the Blue Jackets for the win. Vasilevskiy was good, really good. Hagel had a three point night and Nick Paul scored a power play goal.
A look at Sergachev’s recovery, prognosis after leg injury [Tampa Bay Times]
The fact that Sergachev could be competing at a high level in two months after breaking two bones in his leg is absolutely mind boggling.
Sergachev is still in New York, but at least he was able to get outside for a little while.
Orlando frozen out by Jacksonville, 4-1 [ECHL]
A night after ending their 11-game losing streak, the Solar Bears found themselves back in the loss column as the Icemen scored three unanswered goals to take the victory. Jesse Jacques had the lone goal for Orlando and Brandon Halverson had 20 saves in the loss.
Nikita Zadorov suspended two games [Department of Player Safety]
In one of the quickest hearings in league history, DoPS has suspended Canucks defenseman Nikita Zadorov for two games after his hit to the head of Lucas Raymond. The play happened Saturday afternoon and the hearing was later that night. With the Canucks playing again today, a quick decision was needed.
Five coaches and GMs on the hot seat [Bleacher Report]
No, Coach Cooper and Julien BriseBois are not on the list.
Bidding for case of hockey cards tops $2 million [CBC]
I really wish one of my relatives had a case of cards in their basement. A family in Regina is sitting on a gold mine as they discovered a case (16 boxes) of 1979-80 O-Pee-Chee hockey cards. Among the roughly 10,000 cards contained in those boxes should be roughly 24-27 Wayne Gretzky rookie cards. Needless to say, the cache of cards is worth a lot of cash. The collection is up for auction and just passed the $2 million mark (when factoring in the buyer’s premium). Good luck and may the grading gods be on their side if they rip into the boxes.
