By Mark Pukalo
You wanted it to last forever, but the Tampa Bay Lightning’s magical ride had to end at some point.
The Bolts looked like they had faced the ultimate stop sign a few times in the first three rounds of the 2021-22 playoffs, but they blew right through them all. A rare third straight championship run seemed almost destined at times.
Finally, Tampa Bay met a team that might have been a smidgen better, luckier, faster and seemingly much healthier in the Stanley Cup finals. It was the Colorado Avalanche’s time and they took advantage of the opportunity.
If someone had told Lightning fans they would allow two goals in the first 60 minutes of three home games in the finals and battle the Avs to two one-goal games in Denver, there would be no hesitation. They’d take that. But the Bolts could not steal Game 1 and failed to manage three goals in Game 4 or 6 at Amalie Arena. That just wasn’t good enough.
Oh, there were some bad calls and Brayden Point was not available while many other Tampa Bay players were banged up pretty bad. But no excuses. Colorado deserved most of its breaks. The Avs also won the special teams battle decisively, which was a major factor.
That doesn’t take anything away from the efforts of the Lightning, from the owner, to the GM, the coaches, the trainers and the warriors in uniform. They were just a few plays from making history with a third straight Cup - a feat that has not been accomplished since the mid 1980s. They faced four teams that won at least 52 games in the regular season and beat three. They did not have home-ice advantage in any series. But they kept moving forward.
It was often the Tampa Bay Find-A-Ways in the regular season as they battled through injuries and eager opponents to accumulate another 100-point campaign.
Three times they followed a loss with a win to dispatch the Toronto Maple Leafs in the first round after a brilliant effort defensively in Game 7.
Ross Colton drilled home a nifty pass from Nikita Kucherov in the final seconds to win Game 2 at Florida and Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 49 shots to finish the sweep of the hated Panthers two contests later in the second round.
The Lightning looked dead and beaten after two rough performances at Madison Square Garden, but roared back to win the next four over the upstart New York Rangers in the Eastern Conference finals.
The Bolts just kept giving this season. Thrills after thrills. But they were not playing Dallas or Montreal in the finals this season. Their bag of tricks did not have enough left to stop Colorado’s stunning 16-4 postseason run this time.
But, man, what a season of highs for Tampa Bay.
**Captain Steven Stamkos put up a career-high 106 points.
**Defenseman Victor Hedman reached 20 goals for the first time in his career and was top three in the Norris Trophy voting for the sixth straight season.
**Kucherov had 69 points in 47 games.
**Alex Killorn had a career-high 59 points, but ran out of gas in the playoffs going without a goal.
**Ondrej Palat scored his most goals since 2013-14 in the regular season (18) and a team-high tying 11 more in the postseason, including seven in third periods and three gamewinners.
**Ageless Corey Perry signed for $1 million and scored 19 goals (six more in the playoffs), tying his most since 2015-16.
**Colton followed up his surprising rookie season with 22 goals in 2021-22.
**Pat Maroon scored 11 goals - his most since logging 14 with Edmonton in 2017-18.
**Jan Rutta was a career-best +25.
**Nick Paul quickly became a fan favorite after being acquired from Ottawa for Mathieu Joseph, sealing that with two goals in Game 7 against Toronto.
**Fourth-line center Pierre-Edouard Bellemare was a career-best +24 and tied his best with nine goals.
**Vasilevskiy reached at least 30 wins for the fifth straight season (39) and had a .922 save percentage in the playoffs despite giving up seven in Game 2 of the finals.
**Backup goalie Brian Elliott was 11-4-3 and had his best save percentage (.912) since 2015-16 with St. Louis.
In some ways, it was a more remarkable season than the two Cup runs, and there’s no reason they are done creating great memories.
Julien Brisebois, up for GM of the year, has given the Lightning a chance to be a contender for years with smart moves. He has given up a lot of high picks in the draft to get that done, but Scouting Director Al Murray and his staff are so good at picking in the middle and late rounds some of the overpays are excusable.
We will see what happens this offseason.
The Bolts should probably let Rutta go, even though he played above expectations a lot, with a viable and cheaper top six option in Cal Foote ready to take his place. Foote made strides this season, but coach Jon Cooper went with the veterans midstream and Rutta, along with Zach Bogosian, raised their games in the Eastern finals.
The rest of the defense may stay the same unless JB decides to see what some teams in the Western Conference may offer for Mikhail Sergachev. The young defenseman played much better later in the playoffs, but drives you crazy at times. You wonder at the end of his current contract after next season if he is worth a long-term deal at $6-7 million. He certainly has the ability. It shines through at times. But it’s not a crime to see what Los Angeles, Anaheim, Dallas and others in the West might offer - a first, a second and one or two prospects that are ready in a bigger deal?
It would be interesting what the brass thinks of Sergy’s play overall. The inconsistency has to worry them. But, then again, his ceiling is very very high as well.
Nick Perbix, who began is pro career in Syracuse late last season, is a right-handed offensive defenseman who could help soon. That may factor in as well.
Up front, everything will hinge on Palat. Someone will probably offer him approximately five years at about $6 million - perhaps even more. Not sure the Lightning can offer more than 4-4.5 for three years. Does he want the big money or Tampa?
Paul helped in the process by signing for seven years at a reasonable $3.15 million cap hit Friday and it has been rumored that the Bolts have talked to veteran defenseman Ryan McDonagh about waiving his no trade clause to free up another $6,75 mil in cap space. That deal would make Sergachev a definite keeper as a second pair lefty d man. Perhaps someone would take Killorn for the final year of his deal to create even more room with Point's cap hit going up $2.75 mil.
JB said Tuesday he has already spoken to Palat and Rutta's agents. The quicker decisions can be made, the better.
The draft is next week and the Bolts have a late first-round pick. Most likely, the best player available is gonna be the selection. But a lefty defenseman and a scoring winger seem to be needs going forward. Looking forward to seeing defenseman Jack Thompson and center Jack Finley at Syracuse next season.
It’s only been a few days, but I already miss hockey. Three in a row did not work for the Bolts. But three of four would be pretty darn good, too.
Never count them out. The Lightning are here to stay. As the captain said, “Who says we’re done?”
No one.
