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Tampa Bay Lightning playoff milestone watch

The Tampa Bay Lightning have had some players moving up the franchise record boards during this playoff run. Entering the Eastern Conference Final, Lightning players have already set some franchise numbers. Nikita Kucherov passed Vincent Lecavalier for second in points, and goals. Victor Hedman passed Martin St. Louis for the top spot in assists. But there are some more that can be broken perhaps even before this series is over.

Career Playoff Points

  • Martin St. Louis – 68
  • Nikita Kucherov – 54
  • Vincent Lecavalier – 52
  • Brad Richards – 47
  • Tyler Johnson – 47
  • Steven Stamkos – 45
  • Victor Hedman – 43
  • Alex Killorn – 39
  • Ondrej Palat – 37/

Kucherov is just six points off of Martin St. Louis’ top spot of 68 points. Johnson is tied with Richards and only five points behind Lecavalier for that third spot. Stamkos and Hedman can certainly pass Richards, and with a very productive series, could pace Lecavalier too. Killorn and Palat would have a harder time surpassing Richards, but it is possible. They’ve also got a lot of current teammates ahead of them that will keep them from moving too far up the rankings. On the defensive side, Stralman is one point behind Garrison for third. Dan Boyle has a steady grip on second place with 22 points.

Career Playoff Goals

  • Martin St. Louis – 33
  • Nikita Kucherov – 28
  • Tyler Johnson – 24
  • Vincent Lecavalier – 24
  • Alex Killorn – 19
  • Ondrej Palat – 18
  • Steven Stamkos – 18
  • Brad Richards – 18/

Five goals separates Kucherov from the top of this category chasing down Martin St. Louis. It’s a tall order to get there in this series, but it could happen. Johnson just needs one goal to take over sole possession of third place from Lecavalier. Killorn, Palat, and Stamkos have a shot at passing Lecavalier as well, but it would be tough. Palat and Stamkos just need a goal each to bump Richards down a spot. On the blue line, Stralman just needs one goal to move into second place and break his tie with Dan Boyle, Pavel Kubina, and Jason Garrison. Sergachev and Girardi both sit a goal behind that group with two a piece.

Career Playoff Assists

  • Victor Hedman – 37
  • Martin St. Louis – 35
  • Brad Richards – 29
  • Vincent Lecavalier – 28
  • Steven Stamkos – 27
  • Nikita Kucherov – 26
  • Tyler Johnson – 23
  • Alex Killorn – 20
  • Dan Boyle – 19
  • Ondrej Palat – 19/

Hedman already took over the leading spot earlier in the playoffs. Richards and Lecavalier are both within striking distance for Stamkos and Kucherov. Johnson and Killorn would have a harder time getting up over Lecavalier here. Palat just needs one assist to get past Dan Boyle.

Career Playoff Power Play Goals

  • Martin St. Louis – 10
  • Brad Richards – 9
  • Vincent Lecavalier – 8
  • Ondrej Palat – 7
  • Steven Stamkos – 7
  • Nikita Kucherov – 7
  • Ruslan Fedotenko – 5
  • Alex Killorn – 4/

For Palat, Stamkos, and Kucherov, the top three are all within striking distance. If the first unit gets running hot, then Stamkos or Kucherov could pick it up and get up there. Killorn is just one from tying Fedotenko, and already has three power play goals this playoffs. On the defense side, Hedman already shares the lead among defensemen with three goals, tied with Pavel Kubina. Sergchev has also picked up a goal with only Marc-Andre Bergeron’s two goals between him and Kubina.

Career Playoffs Power Play Points

  • Martin St. Louis – 24
  • Steven Stamkos – 21
  • Brad Richards – 19
  • Vincent Lecavalier – 19
  • Nikita Kucherov – 18
  • Dan Boyle – 12
  • Victor Hedman – 12
  • Ondrej Palat – 11
  • Tyler Johnson – 11
  • Dave Andreychuk – 10
  • Alex Killorn – 8/

Like with the playoff goals, several marks are within reach for the Lightning’s top power play unit. Stamkos is just three points behind St. Louis. Meanwhile Kucherov would just need two power play points for get into the top three behind Stamkos. Hedman just needs one power play point to pass Dan Boyle for the defensemen lead in power play points. Sergachev needs one point to tie Jason Garrison for sixth. He would need another nine points to tie Dan Boyle at 12 points for second. He could reach Kubina’s seven points in third place though with a hot second power play unit.

Career Playoff Game Winning Goals

  • Martin St. Louis – 8
  • Brad Richards – 7
  • Tyler Johnson – 7
  • Nikita Kucherov – 6
  • Vincent Lecavalier – 5
  • Ondrej Palat – 4
  • Alex Killorn – 4/

And we continue into another category where St. Louis is in the lead, but his lead is in danger. The max a player could get during the series is four though, so it seems unlikely Kucherov would get there, but it’s possible. Meanwhile Johnson would need just one to tie him.

Career Playoffs Overtime Goals

  • Martin St. Louis – 3
  • Tyler Johnson – 2
  • Vincent Lecavalier -2
  • Nikita Kucherov – 2
  • Other Forwards – 1
  • Jason Garrison – 1
  • Dan Girardi – 1/

Raise your hand if you already knew that Dan Girardi is tied for the defensemen lead in overtime goals? Alright, now put down your hands you liars!

The Lightning have been fairly successful in playoff overtime goals in franchise history. None was bigger than St. Louis’ second overtime goal in game six of the 2004 Stanley Cup Finals. While it wasn’t the last overtime playoff goal he scored in his career, it was his last one for the Lightning.

Rookie Career Playoff Records

I’ll condense this section down since it’s a little simpler than the others. The Lightning have three rookies regularly in their line-up that have a chance to set some new records; Yanni Gourde, Anthony Cirelli, and Mikhail Sergachev.

Gourde has already tied Paul Ranger for the points lead with six, is tied for 2nd in goals with two, and tied for 2nd in assists with four. He also has the rookie lead in power play goals, and is tied with Sergachev for the lead in power play points. Gourde also is tied for the lead with one game winning goal.

Sergachev has made a fair accounting so far with his four points. It puts him two points behind Paul Ranger for the defensemen lead. His two goals have tied him with Ranger in that department and he sits two assists behind Ranger for the defensemen lead in assists. As a continuing theme, Sergachev is also tied with Ranger for the rookie power play goal lead. He sits one point behind Nikita Nesterov for the points lead.

Cirelli has a way to go with just two points, one goal, and one assist. It looks like he’ll be chasing Gourde and Sergachev in most categories for the rest of the playoffs. But he only needs three goals and five points to put him firmly in the top three for either of those categories.

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