The Tampa Bay Lightning returned to the win column on Saturday night, thanks to a 6-3 decision over the Nashville Predators. The win moves Tampa’s record to 19-5-2, which puts them in first place in the Central Division. Here are tonight’s thumbs:

Thumbs Down: Raising the Banner
With fans welcomed to Amalie Arena for the first time in 2021, the Lightning decided to raise their 2020 Stanley Cup banner to the rafters. It sounds crazy to give this kind of moment a “thumbs down,” but I just don’t understand the timing. The whole point of not doing it on opening night was to allow for fans to be in attendance. While it’s true that there were bodies in the building tonight, capacity restrictions made it far less special than it could have been. Many Season Ticket Members who ordinarily would have been in attendance for such a momentous occasion were left on the outside looking in.

I would have waited until the building was full again.

Thumbs Up: Victor Hedman Runs the Show
Just as Andrei Vasilevskiy should be the frontrunner in the Vezina race, Victor Hedman has to be the leader in the Norris race. He can singlehandedly take over a game, which makes him as scary as any defender in the National Hockey League. He may have only been credited with a secondary assist tonight – on Alex Killorn’s power play goal – but I thought he was phenomenal. He generated scoring chances, he controlled play, and his underlying numbers show him as being a net positive contributor for the team.

It’s wild that a group with Steven Stamkos and Brayden Point on the roster is led in scoring by a defenseman. Hedman is that good.

Thumbs Up: Balanced Attack
Only two of the Lightning’s 11 forwards – being Yanni Gourde and Pat Maroon – failed to record at least a single point tonight. The offense was coming from all corners of the roster, which made things particularly difficult for Nashville.

Thumbs Up: Adding Johnson to the Coleman Line
Yanni Gourde playing with Blake Coleman and Barclay Goodrow has basically been a given since last year’s playoff run, but tonight proved definitively that the latter two can get the job done at a high level with another body alongside them. It was Tyler Johnson today.

The trio combined for five points, and looked every bit as impressive as that number would suggest. They were flying, using their speed, tenacity, and smarts to dominate the Predators on almost every shift. Coleman’s goal, in particular, was a prime example of the kind of savvy players these guys are for the Lightning. With the Predators pressing after two early third period goals, the Bolts trio executed a beautiful zone entry and setup before converting to stop Nashville’s momentum. It couldn’t have come at a better time.

They were the best line for Tampa Bay tonight by a not-insignificant margin, from my perspective.

Thumbs Up: The Power Play
They only got the one opportunity, but they made it count. You won’t see puck movement much better or more precise than that this season.

Thumbs Up: Living Rent Free in Toronto’s Head
With news that Nikita Kucherov is already skating, the Toronto media and chattering class is up in arms. It was one of the big stories on tonight’s Hockey Night in Canada broadcast, in fact. On social media, there have been accusations of cap circumvention, injury manipulation, and just about everything else you could think of in this situation. Of course, most of the commentary ignores that this timeline is very similar to that experienced by Brayden Point when he underwent a similar surgery.

Regardless of how upset the Lightning being good makes some people, I’ll sleep just fine tonight. I’m sure Kucherov will too.

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The Lightning will see the Predators again on Monday.

As always, thanks for reading.

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