Confidence carrying Stamkos as scoring touch returns
NEW YORK — Steven Stamkos stood at the podium after Game 5 with a relaxed look on his face. Gone are the days when speculation was rife that he was injured, contributing to his goal drought in Tampa’s first eight games of the postseason.
Stamkos wasn’t hurt, as he contended during Round 1 into Round 2. But even a multiple Rocket Richard Trophy winner can through battles with confidence. And while it certainly helped that the Lightning came back in their series against the Detroit Red Wings, it feels good for the Tampa captain to know he’s contributing in victories now.
The Lightning won Game 5 against the New York Rangers 2-0 Sunday night, putting them a win away from advancing to their first Stanley Cup Final since 2004. Stamkos scored a power play goal late in the second period to put Tampa up 2-0 and put the game effectively out of reach given the Rangers’ inability to breach Ben Bishop, who made 26 saves.
Stamkos has now scored in four consecutive games, tying a team playoff record set by Martin St. Louis and Vincent Lecavalier. The goals have started coming since Game 2 of Round 2 against the Montreal Canadiens. Since that 6-2 win Stamkos has 7 goals in 10 games and 14 points over that stretch.
The jump in production coincided with a move to the wing, a move that Tampa head coach Jon Cooper said he made so Stamkos didn’t exert too much energy in the defensive zone.
“I’m definitely more confident now than I was the first eight games, no question,” Stamkos said. “But I think for me it was a great adversity test. Our team was winning, which was great. The depth has prevailed all season for our team. But I knew I was playing the right way. When you play the right way, things are going to start going your way.”
While the “Triplets” line of Ondrej Palat, Tyler Johnson and Nikita Kucherov has garnered much of the attention, Stamkos, Valtteri Filppula and Alex KIllorn have done damage themselves. Despite their lack of a catchy nickname — “I don’t think we need a nickname,” says Filppula — they’ve provided another threat the Rangers have failed to contain.
“Whenever good things happen you get confidence and you get more comfortable and you trust what you’re doing,” said Filppula, “it’s going to get results. “I think that that’s a good sign.”
Both head coaches have talked about needing their big names to step up at this stage of the season. New York got that from St. Louis and Rick Nash in Game 4, but have missed them for the most part. Meanwhile, Cooper has watched his go-to guys lead the charge, and in Stamkos’ case, it’s been timely.
“The one thing with Stammer, you look at his seven goals, he’s not getting the sixth goal in a 6-2 game,” Cooper said. “He’s getting the go-ahead goal or the one that you build off. It was only a matter of time. You can’t keep him down forever. He was responsible on both ends of the ice.”
Stamkos and Victor Hedman are the only Lightning players who remain from that 2011 team that lost 1-0 in Game 7 of the East Final to the Boston Bruins. Four year later, Stamkos is now the leader of the Lightning and Hedman has evolved into one of the NHL’s top defensemen. They know how close they are to advancing to the the final stage of the season, but they also understand the Rangers have been coming back in series all postseason.
“We’re going to get some rest. We’re going to regroup,” Stamkos said. “We’re going to watch the film, watch the things that we did well, and obviously try to do it again.”
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Sean Leahy is the associate editor for Puck Daddy on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Sean_Leahy
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