"I think doing it in my home city with a lot of friends and family would be special, but I am not trying to think about that too much," Stamkos said before the Lightning's game against the Maple Leafs at Air Canada Centre on Thursday night, "I know everyone is going to be trying to get me the puck, no matter what I say -- that's the kind of guys we have on our team. But it would mean a lot more to me if we were closer or if we were in the playoffs."
When Stamkos reached and surpassed 50 goals for the first time in 2009-10, he did it by scoring five times in his last four games. He's riding another season-ending hot streak with eight goals in his last seven games, but the 22-year-old isn't necessarily buying into the notion there is a push to reach 60 goals.
"The 50-goal plateau is kind of the number in hockey and I hadn't done before that in my career," he said. "We were kind of out of the playoffs. I probably had 30 shots in the last three games with guys were just trying to get me the puck the whole time. I mean it's a big deal to even get the chance to get that number. ... Guys are looking to pass to me, that's obvious over the past couple of games but it's not something I'm pressing."
Martin St. Louis, who leads the club in assists with 47, admits that with a 60-goal season for his linemate in sight, there might be an added incentive for Stamkos' teammates to get the puck to No. 91 whenever possible. "Maybe you tend to look for him a little more with a deadline like this and being so close to a goal," he said, "but he is hard not to look for just because of how good of a goal scorer he is."
Projected lines for Tampa Bay
Forwards
Martin St. Louis - Vincent Lecavalier - Steven Stamkos
Ryan Malone - J.T. Brown - Teddy Purcell
Tim Wallace - JT Wyman - Brett Connolly
Tom Pyatt - Nate Thompson
Defense
Eric Brewer - Victor Hedman
Brett Clark - Brian Lee
Keith Aulie - Bruno Gervais
Mike Commodore
Goalies
Dwayne Roloson
Sebastien Caron
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