Notebook: No surprise to see Kucherov get up to speed so quickly

Nikita Kucherov presented a different challenge for the Florida Panthers in the First Round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, a superstar forward added to an already robust lineup to take the defending Stanley Cup champion Tampa Bay Lightning to the next level.
The Panthers have seen Kucherov through the years. But during the regular season, they got used to playing the Lightning without him and experiencing a certain level of success as a result. Once he returned for the first game of the playoffs, they didn't have an answer for him.

Kucherov scored two power-play goals and added a power-play assist in Game 1 to power the Lightning to a 5-4 victory in Game 1. The Russian winger tallied 11 points during the six-game First Round, setting a Lightning franchise record for scoring in a postseason series, bettering his own mark of 10 points he set in the First Round versus New Jersey in 2018 and matched in the 2020 Eastern Conference Final against the New York Islanders.
Might Kucherov have been the X factor the Panthers weren't prepared for? Would he have had the same success against Florida in the First Round if he'd played a couple regular season games against the Panthers and they had a better idea how to prepare for him?
"Well maybe if it was his first year in the League I'd have to agree with that, but teams should know what Nikita Kucherov brings each and every night and what he can do," Lightning captain Steven Stamkos said. "So I think regardless of how many times they played him this year, as we've seen before on the good side and the bad side, the regular season means nothing. You get into the playoffs and I think when you add a player of that caliber, I can't speak to what they thought he was going to be able to bring, but he's a world-class player."
Stamkos said fans and opponents might have been taken aback how easily Kucherov returned to the lineup and regained his world-class form despite missing the entire regular season after having hip surgery December 29.
But his teammates certainly weren't.

"It's not really a surprise to us because we see the work he puts in every game and every practice," Stamkos said. "I think teams have enough tape on Kuch over the years to understand what he can bring. It's one thing to watch it on tape, it's another to try to go out there and execute to stop it when a player is that smart and ahead of most players on the ice in terms of what he's thinking. I can't speak to what they thought, but it's certainly nice to have him back in the lineup."
Kucherov said it took him a few games to adjust to the pace and physicality of playoff hockey and to feel comfortable in his return. But now he's back up to speed.
"After two games, I felt normal," he said. "I felt like I would feel during the season. Didn't have any issues. So far, so good."
Tampa Bay's Second Round opponent will have the benefit of seeing tape on Kucherov, particularly on the power play where he was especially lethal in the First Round, to figure out a game plan for how to defend him. That's a luxury the Panthers didn't have.
How much that'll aid Carolina in its preparation for the series against the Lightning remains to be seen.
"I think the scope of this whole thing is he's a really good player, so you're just inserting a really good player in, regardless of what he can do or not," Lightning head coach Jon Cooper said. "If video tape alone stopped a player, then nobody would have any points in this League. So you can kind of get a picture of what they're at, but he's a special player and he adds to the depth of our team which we've needed. I think for us, it's just getting into games. We haven't seen (Carolina forward Teuvo) Teravainen on their team. I don't think he played a game against us this year. So you're getting slightly different looks, but in the end, Game 1 is the feel-out game. You kind of get a gauge where everybody is, and you go from there."
PLAYING IN THE MUD: Barclay Goodrow was a surprise addition to the Tampa Bay lineup for the Game 6 shutout of Florida that sent the Bolts past the Panthers and into the Second Round for the fifth time in the last seven seasons and eighth time overall in franchise history.
Goodrow suffered an upper-body injury in the second-to-last game of the regular season against Florida and was listed as out indefinitely. At the start of the series, Jon Cooper said to wait a week and the team would have a better idea when Goodrow might be able to return. But once a week went by, Cooper didn't offer any update on Goodrow.

In Game 6, Goodrow was a surprise participant during pregame warmups and insertion into the starting lineup. He was immediately back to his rough-and-tumble self too. He dished out a game-high five hits. He only won two of his nine face-offs but both came on critical penalty kill draws with the Lightning holding onto a 1-0 lead. And even though he started on the fourth line with Tyler Johnson and Pat Maroon, he quickly swapped spots with Ross Colton, moving back to his normal spot on the third line after just one shift and adding to the Bolts' forward depth, allowing them to roll four lines.
That fourth line would in turn produce Tampa Bay's opening goal, Johnson beating out an icing and feeding Maroon in front, Big Rig using his skilled hands to knock a puck out of the air and put the Lightning in front 1-0 just over six minutes into the first period.
Maroon's goal held up as the series-clincher.
Cooper said it's not a coincidence the Lightning registered a shutout for the first time in the opening round series in Game 6, the only contest Goodrow played in.
"He's really hard to play against," Cooper said. "You can't have all Ferraris. Sometimes you need a good old fashioned 4-wheel drive Jeep to get you through the mud. And that's what Barclay Goodrow can do for you. He creates room and space for guys. He's hard to play against. He's always getting a piece of you. And he's vital on our penalty kill."