It feels like we never posted a fitting tribute to Steven Stamkos as a member of the Tampa Bay Lightning. To be honest, at the time that it happened, it was a bit too overwhelming. As much as it seemed like it was a possibility, it never seemed like it would become a reality. There was that last little spark of hope when Mikhail Sergachev was traded to Utah at the draft and the cap space opened up, but a few days later the unlikely prospect of Steven Stamkos signing with another team became all too likely.
We aren’t here to debate whether or not it was the right move for him (it was) or the team (probably, but they could have handled it better). Instead, let’s celebrate just a tiny, little portion of the joy he brought to Lightning fans over the years.
5. Back in the game, with the cage on
The Lightning weren’t supposed to make it to the Eastern Conference Final in the 2010-11 season, yet there they were, battling it out with the Boston Bruins. In his third season with the Lightning, the 20-year-old Stamkos was getting his first taste of playoff action and acclimating to it quite well with 13 points (6 goals, 7 assists) in 18 games.
In his first Game 7 of his NHL career, Steven Stamkos blocked a shot. With his face. Granted, that wasn’t his intention as Johnny Boychuk’s shot changed its trajectory suddenly after hitting Marty St. Louis’ stick, but that’s what happened. Stamkos skated to the locker room with blood streaming off his face and it didn’t look like he would come back.
Showing a toughness we would see time and time over his career in with the Lightning, Stamkos did return to the game in the second period with a nasty cut on the bridge of his nose and a cage around his face to protect it (he only missed about six minutes of game action). It was a sign that there was a little toughness to this kid. He wasn’t just a flashy scorer, but a player that would do anything it would take to get back on the ice to help his team. He displayed this trait after a broken leg in Boston, and with an injured core in Edmonton.
There wasn’t a storybook ending to this game as Nathan Horton provided the lone goal in the Bruins’ 1-0 victory, but it showed Lightning fans a little more of what Stamkos was made of.
4. Staying in Tampa in 2016
The summer of 2016 was not a fun one for Lightning fans. There was legitimate concern that Stamkos was going to sign somewhere else. Not just somewhere else, but in Toronto. At that point in time, the Leafs weren’t considered any sort of rivals with the Lightning. The Lightning were coming off of a couple of disappointing playoff runs, but the Leafs were still kind of rebuilding.
There was the sense among some that Stamkos just wasn’t going to get it done in Tampa and that he could be the key to helping his childhood team win their first Stanley Cup in decades. There was also a liked Tweet or two along with a meeting with a mayor. In the end, Stamkos stuck with Tampa.
He spurned the Leafs, a “traditional” hockey town, and turned down a few million extra dollars to stay in Hockey Bay USA. Things would turn out pretty well for him, and the team. For the fans it was nice to see that Stamkos valued what he had, and that he wanted to finish his story in Tampa. It was pretty much the exact opposite feeling from this past summer where he did end up signing with another team, but at least he granted us with eight more years of highlights and two Stanley Cups.
And he still didn’t sign with Toronto.
3. Goal 60
The majority of these moments involve long playoff runs and team success. This highlight does not. This is all about individual glory. What a season it was for Steven Stamkos in 2011-12. After starting the season with three straight goalless games, he started scoring and never stopped. Heading into the final game of the season in Winnipeg, he needed one more goal to hit the magic number of 60.
In typical Stamkosian fashion, he delivered.
After a surprising run to the Eastern Conference Finals the previous season, 2011-12 was a bit of a letdown, and it became quite apparent late in the season that the Lightning probably weren’t going to make the postseason (they finished third in the Southeast Division), so Stamkos’ pursuit of personal glory was one reason to stay tuned down the stretch. After a four-game stretch in late March without a goal, Stamkos made Lightning games worth watching as he scored 10 times over his final 9 games to hit the mark.
Even the fans in Winnipeg realized it was a special moment as they gave him a standing ovation following the goal.
2. Raising the Cup on home ice
The header picture for this article is from the 2021 on-the-ice celebration. After seeing them win in a bubble in 2020, to have them do it on home ice the very next season was so much sweeter. There was two seasons worth of jubilation in the stands that night, and it felt like the cheering would go on forever.
After being limited to just one game in the 2020 Cup run, Stamkos appeared in 23 games in this run, posting 8 goals and adding 10 assists while throwing 47 hits and winning 53.2% of his face-offs. However, there was a culmination of even more celebrated when he raised that Cup. It was justification for signing the big contract to stay in Tampa. It was a fulfillment of his potential when he was drafted and spoken about as the franchise savior.
1. The Goal, aka 2:47
The Lightning franchise has been around for more than 30 years at this point and we defy you to find a bigger moment in their history. Maybe, just maybe, you can argue for the first Cup victory, but personally we think this one is a tad bit bigger. First, there was the situation, a somewhat unlikely run through the playoffs following The Great Sports Pause of 2020. The location, a bubble of hockey due to all of the COVID protocols.
What we didn’t know about at the time was the personal hardships that the Stamkos’ family was dealing with, and what had him leave the bubble altogether at one point. While the Lightning were in Toronto, Stamkos left to be with his wife, Sandra, who was experiencing complications with pregnancy. Complications that eventually led to a miscarriage.
Stamkos would be away from the team for three weeks, rejoining them in Edmonton for the beginning of the conference finals. He began skating with the team again, still recovering from his core injury. Throughout their time in the bubble, the Bolts had been cagey about his status, and the restricted media access added to the mystery of his availability to the team.
Looking back at things, the Lightning had rolled through the playoffs. They dispatched Columbus in five games, Boston in five games, and the Islanders in six. At the time it never felt like they were dominating, but with a few years behind us, we can breathe a little easier now.
As for the series itself, Dallas had taken Game One, but Tampa bounced back with a 3-2 win in Game Two as Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 27 of 29 shots. Game Three was looking to be a pivotal game in the series and it was close early on. The Lightning were up 1-0 after a first period goal by Nikita Kucherov, and Stamkos had taken a couple of shifts to test out his core.
One-goal leads are shaky at best in the playoffs so the goal was going to be huge in the game, and it came off of the stick of Stamkos. He swooped into the zone with his eyes on the net the whole time. In a fluid motion he whipped the puck into the upper corner past Anton Khudobin. The puck was in, Stamkos was mobbed by his teammates, and despite it only being Game Three, it felt like the series was over.
The Captain skated in two more shifts before calling it a night. He wouldn’t return to action for the rest of the playoffs, but was in uniform (hiding in the shower) late in Game Six so that he could join his teammates for the on-ice celebration.
Despite the fact that it happened in Edmonton, in front of just friends and family, it really felt like everyone in the Lightning universe was connected at that moment the goal went in. Honestly, it will be hard for anyone to ever top that moment for the Lightning, or for hockey in general.
Thank you for all of those memories, and all of the ones we didn’t mention, Mr. Stamkos.