Last night was like feasting on a delicious, but utterly unhealthy, meal. In the moment, the Lightning’s 7-3 pummeling of the Toronto Maple Leafs was delightful to witness and mighty entertaining. But the Maple Leafs will not improve the Lightning’s preparation for postseason hockey because they allow the Lightning to play exactly how they fantasize about playing—and this is not sustainable in the long run.

The neutral zone was a wick for Tampa Bay to explode into the offensive zone. Without question, Brayden Point’s return was a catalyst for the offense; the Point line had 9 Scoring Chances at 5v5 while the other three lines combined for 10. But unlike against Carolina, where passing and skating lanes were closed off through tight gaps, and the middle of the ice became an area for the Canes to create turnovers and counterattacks, Toronto consistently surrendered space to the Lightning. Of course, the Bolts were more than happy to capitalize.

Brayden Point
Brayden Point’s effort on his second goal demonstrated his value in all three zones. The Lightning had been hemmed in their own zone for 35 seconds by the John Tavares line, and while Toronto was going through a partial change, Mitch Marner was still buzzing around the offensive zone trying to create a turnover. Kucherov and Stamkos had already left the zone and were waiting in the neutral zone. Erik Cernak was under pressure from Marner, but he had help from Point, who provides an escape hatch for the defensemen.



Cernak used the boards to pass the puck to Point, who ferried it out of the defensive zone and through the neutral zone before easily gaining entry to the offensive zone. Right before he reached the outskirts of the top of the left circle, he dropped the puck back to Stamkos, who carried it to the middle, then crossed and dropped the puck to Kucherov. Kucherov whipped a shot at Point, who deflected it past Frederik Andersen. Cody Ceci was physically present, but failed to disrupt Point’s trajectory.

Point’s impact is worth highlighting. He transported the puck from the top of the circle in the Bolts’ own zone to the top of the circle in Toronto’s zone. He pushed back the defense, allowing Stamkos and Kucherov to work a passing play along the top of the zone with little resistance because the Toronto defense had sunk so far down. And then he got inside position on the defense and easily deflected a shot past the opposing goaltender, pushing the lead to two goals. As easy as it is to wax on about Point’s virtues as a hockey player, as a viewer it was thrilling to have him back in action.

Neutral zone
The Lightning dominated the middle of the ice. On Point’s first goal, it only took a Kucherov U-turn for the neutral zone to completely open up for Tampa Bay. Kucherov was able to pass it to Kevin Shattenkirk after he reversed course, and Shattenkirk carried the puck right up to the blue line before passing it to Point for the entry. Another important thing to note is that the Lightning defensemen really got to be engaged on this goal. Mikhail Sergachev had a key retrieval below the circles, and Victor Hedman was able to dictate the play from the point. It was a tough sequence for Tyson Barrie, who lost the retrieval against Sergachev and was beaten in the one-on-one battle in the paint, enabling the Lightning’s first strike.

Likewise, on the Shattenkirk goal that gave the Lightning a 3-2 lead, it was Joseph’s tremendous backcheck on Andreas Johnsson right as the puck was leaving the neutral zone that forced a turnover.



But Joseph’s pass to Yanni Gourde would have failed if it were not for the intervention of Tyler Johnson. Johnson wrested the puck away from Tyson Barrie, and that sprung Shattenkirk for a one-on-one against Morgan Rielly.

Anthony Cirelli on the first unit
I have been lobbying for Cirelli to play as the net-front presence on the first power- play unit for quite some time now, and that clarion call only got louder once J.T. Miller got traded. When the Lightning started the year with Patrick Maroon in that spot, it might have been an idea that looked good on paper, but in reality it didn’t translate well due to Maroon’s plodding skating and lack of quickness in terms of retrieving pucks. Last night, we got our first glimpse of Cirelli with the A-unit, and it was glorious. On the Kucherov goal, Cirelli had a clean faceoff win against Marner, and the shot was no doubt boosted by the dominance of the faceoff win. If it were a more contested draw presumably Andersen does a better job squaring up to the shooter.

On the Steven Stamkos goal, Cirelli exhibited two of the three most cherished characteristics that make him such a great fit for this role. He had a key retrieval on Victor Hedman’s shot from the point where he won the race to the corner against Ceci. And then a few seconds after, Point tossed a puck off his back foot into the middle slot and Cirelli won the race to the puck against Ceci and skillfully passed it to Stamkos on the weak side for the power play goal.



That knack for passing in traffic and winning retrievals is what makes him such a valuable asset on the man advantage.

It will be interesting to see how long Jon Cooper keeps the Stamkos-Point-Kucherov line together. They had some breathtaking moments last night, but the drop-off after that line in terms of even-strength scoring makes it dicey depending on the opponent. Both the Cirelli and Johnson lines generated offensive chances, but it is noteworthy that the only goal that came from those forwards was a fluke deflection off Kasperi Kapanen’s skate. Point gives the Lightning their mojo back, but not every team will be as tractable as the Maple Leafs.

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