Martin St. Louis leads the Lighting with 34 assists, and he’s second on the team with 50 points. The 36-year-old right wing is signed until the 2014-2015 season. | bridgetds/flickr.com
The Tampa Bay Lightning started the season horribly and have been towards the bottom of the standings since. That is until Jan. 17. The Lightning had lost seven games in a row and everyone in Tampa was calling for change. On that day, the Boston Bruins were in town and it seemed like a lock to be the Lightning’s eighth straight loss. The opposite happened and it turned out to be a major turning point in the season.
Since that day, Tampa has gotten a point in nine out of the 10 games they have played. The whole team has greatly contributed to the success but there have been a few standouts. Steven Stamkos has easily been the hottest player on the team. He has scored 17 goals over the last 20 games. He also scored three straight game winning goals for the team after the All-Star break.
The first pick of the 2008 NHL draft is leading the league in goals scored with 37 this season. The next closest player to him is Evgeni Malkin with 30 goals. Stamkos also ranks second in the league with 62 total points. He is the biggest reason why the Lightning have turned their season around and look to him to stay hot as the season progresses.
Martin St. Louis has also stepped it up in a big way for the team. He is the team leader in assists with 34 which ranks tenth in the league. St. Louis had a huge game for the team in their February 2nd match up against the Florida Panthers. St. Louis had his first hat trick of the season and those three goals were the reason Tampa won the game 6-3.
He has also had at least one point in eight of the last 10 games. St. Louis’ leadership has helped the team march back to contention and he will be a major reason why Tampa makes the playoffs if they do. A major reason for St. Louis’ success is his rekindled flame with Vinny Lecavalier. Coach Guy Boucher put the two back on the same line for the Boston game and since that day they have combined for nine goals and 14 assists. Lecavalier assisted St. Louis on all three of his goals during the Panthers game.
This could be the best move that Boucher has made all season and it quite possibly saved him his job. This is the first time that the two have been on the same line since the 08-09 season. Both players have seen a major increase in production and they will be a major threat as the Lightning push to the postseason.
It would be wrong to end this without mentioning the goalie, Mathieu Garon. Garon has finally pulled away from Dwayne Roloson to become the team’s top goalie. The team has gotten a point in all eight of his starts since the turn around. Garon has a save percentage of .902 which is much better than Roloson’s .881. Garon also has a 2.25 goals against average over this span. He has become the team’s best goalie and that is another area where credit is due to Boucher. It was a tough decision to move Roloson to the number two role but it needed to be done.
Roloson has a record of 7-11 this season and he was in net during the Lightning’s only loss since Jan. 17. It is sad to see such an established player struggle but it is in the team’s best interest to continue playing Garon.
Tampa now sits in 12th place and is only a meager eight points out of a playoff spot. It will be great to see how the latter half of the season plays out for this late blooming squad.
Joe Beaudoin can be reached at jbeaudoin@spartans.ut.edu.
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