Not the Tampa Bay Lightning, at least not presently, with the way Nikita Kucherov, Jonathan Drouin and Tyler Johnson are filling the scoring shoes of their injured captain. The trio led a lethal power play Tuesday that produced all three Tampa goals in a 3-2 win in Game 4 of their first-round matchup against the Detroit Red Wings.
Now, they’ve got a 3-1 stranglehold on the best-of-seven series in spite of Stamkos’ absence, which was supposed to doom the defending Eastern Conference champs.
Instead, it’s invigorated them.
Kucherov himself accounted for two of the goals, scored in the first and second periods to give the Lightning a 2-0 lead. His five goals lead the playoffs.
Johnson, a year removed from scoring 23 points in a memorable postseason run, assisted on Kucherov’s first goal and now has seven points in four games. And Drouin, who drummed up plenty of drama in the regular season, turned in his finest performance in some time, logging a personal playoff high 19:22 time on ice and assisting on all three scores.
Lest we forget Ondrej Palat netted the go-ahead goal with 2:59 to play — their third in five power-play opportunities — sending the series back to Tampa with an opportunity to close out the Red Wings in five games.
With Stamkos’ blood clot issue emerging so late in the season, and his return unlikely, the Lightning were going to find out quickly how badly they need the free-agent-to-be. The returns so far: maybe not as much as everyone thought.
Three stars
Matt Murray, Penguins — Making the first playoff start of his career, Murray, 21, needed only to make 16 saves as Pittsburgh eased its way to a 3-1 win in Game 3. With Jeff Zatkoff’s victorious Game 1 debut, the Penguins are the first team in history with multiple goalies winning their first career playoff starts in the same series.
Frederik Andersen, Ducks — It was a must-win Game 3 for the Ducks, and Andersen stood tall. After sitting in favor of John Gibson in their first two losses, Anderson posted a 27-save shutout in the 3-0 win to put Anaheim back on the grid.
Vladimir Tarasenko, Blues — If it’s a playoff game, there’s a 76 percent chance Tarasenko scored in it. Seriously. The Blues star notched the 12th and 13th goals of his 17-game postseason career to key the St. Louis’ massive 4-3 win over the Blackhawks in Game 4. With a 3-1 series lead, it’s Tarasenko who’s got the Blues on the brink of exorcising their recent first-round playoff demons.
Highlight
Blackhawks goalie Corey Crawford didn’t appreciate this contact from Robby Fabbri and left his crease to let the Blues forward know about it. After the dust settled, Chicago wound up on the power play in an odd twist, but the Blues ultimately got the last laugh at United Center when they became the first team with consecutive playoff wins there since 2002.
Wednesday’s game to watch
Panthers at Islanders, Game 4, 8 p.m. ET, USA (NYI lead 2-1) — Written off and relegated to NBC’s nether networks, this series actually has been chock full of scoring, close games and entertaining hockey. If you like goals, no two teams have combined for more these playoffs. And here you’ve probably been missing out because it’s Panthers-Islanders.
