Point leading the way for the Bolts through two rounds

Currently featuring on TampaBayLightning.com is a highlight reel of the top 10 plays from the Lightning's Second Round victory over the Boston Bruins.
But the video package could just as easily be labeled the Brayden Point Show.

Point, Tampa Bay's No. 1 center and its leading scorer over the first two rounds of the 2020 Stanley Cup Playoffs with 18 points through 13 games, is featured in five of the 10 highlights. He could have figured in more too. The list doesn't even include his breakaway goal in Game 3 where he faked a move to his left, came back hard to his right in a split second and undressed rookie goalie Dan Vladar, who entered the game midway through the second period and was making his first career NHL appearance, regular season or playoffs.
(Full disclosure: I selected that highlight as my fourth favorite from the Second Round but was outvoted).

Point has been making the spectacular look routine during these playoffs and has seemingly gotten better with every game. The 24 year old looked noticeably faster during the Bolts' restart training camp at AMALIE Arena, head coach Jon Cooper saying the superstar center was finally fully recovered from the offseason hip surgeries he had prior to the 2019-20 season. Point was healthy enough to play in the regular season, and he put up fantastic numbers - 25 goals, 39 assists and 64 points - again to remain one of the Bolts' scoring leaders. But it takes time for a hockey player to fully recover from a hip surgery, Lightning defenseman Zach Bogosian, who also had hip surgery in the offseason, saying he didn't feel completely 100 percent until about a year after the surgery.
The pause allowed Point to heal fully while also working on speed and explosiveness elements in his skating he wasn't afforded during the regular season.
Now, the Lightning are reaping the benefits of an unencumbered Point.
"He's our best player, and it's just fun to play with him," Ondrej Palat, his linemate, said during the First Round against Columbus. "When he has the puck, he has a poise. He's just really, really good and a big part of us right now."
To understand just how dynamic Point has been this postseason, and in particular the Second Round, take a gander at each of the plays the fourth-year center made against the Bruins that made the top 10 list.
Our No. 9 highlight might have been Point's most jaw-dropping play of the tournament so far. Because it was the Lightning's final goal in a 7-1 Game 3 rout, its impact wasn't nearly as great and thus it's inclusion toward the bottom of the list.
Point nutmegs his own teammate Nikita Kucherov at the blue line to enter the offensive zone. He skates hard at John Moore to get the Bruins defenseman on his heels then pulls the puck between his legs from behind and hits the speed button to get a step on Moore. With Kucherov coming to the net, Point backhanded a pass into his path, and Kucherov finishes the play with his own nifty aplomb, tucking a backhand shot through the wickets of Vladar, who will likely have nightmares this offseason about his first NHL experience with images of Point dancing around at his net running through his head.

Point's inclusion on the No. 8 play wasn't because of anything spectacular he did but rather displays how all aspects of his game are benefitting the Lightning. He outdueled the Bruins' Par Lindholm for an offensive-zone face-off, pulling the puck back for Victor Hedman to fire at the net, and Anthony Cirelli getting a tip on the shot to put the Lightning ahead 2-1 with eight minutes remaining in the clinching Game 5.
So far this postseason, Point leads the Lightning for face-off win percentage at 56.9 percent and ranks in the top 15 among NHL players with a minimum of 30 playoff face-offs.
The highlight for our No. 7 play unfortunately only includes the payoff and doesn't show Point's yeoman work to set up Tampa Bay's tying goal in Game 2 but might have been the signature play from the series showing all aspects of Point's game. The Calgary, Alberta native outmuscles Boston defenseman Connor Clifton to stay in possession along the wall on the left wing. With three different Bruins taking a turn trying to take the puck off his stick, Point continues to stickhandle in a phone booth along the wall, weaving back and forth in tight spaces to elude defenders, until Pat Maroon comes over to provide a big body for the Bruins to have to move through. Now with a bit of daylight, Point cuts hard back toward the goal and saucers a pass to a wide-open Kevin Shattenkirk at the top of the right circle, who one-times a shot on net that is tipped home at the edge of the crease by Nikita Kucherov.
That goal came 55 seconds after Boston went back in front on a power-play goal and kept the Bolts from having to chase the game for any length of time.
The No. 6 play of the Second Round features Point at the side of the net after a 2-on-1 opportunity with Kucherov was thwarted by Torey Krug. Point regathered the puck and starts stickhandling back and forth down low, Krug's head spinning as he attempts to keep up. With the Bruins trying to follow the puck on Point's stick like a game of three-card monte, Palat skated undetected into the slot and Point quick-fired a pass in front for the winger to one-time over the shoulder of Boston goalie Jaroslav Halak.
Finally, our top play from the Second Round wasn't so much Point's highlight, but it underscored his importance to the Bolts and his ability to find himself on the ice and contributing in some way in the most pivotal moments. On Victor Hedman's series-clinching double overtime goal, Point passed to Shattenkirk at the blue line. With Point drawing defenders toward the middle of the ice, Shattenkirk was able to feed an open Hedman above the left circle with a cross-ice pass. Hedman took the space in front of him, faked a move inside and fired off a quick wrist shot that beat Halak and sent the Lightning into the Eastern Conference Final for the fourth time in the last six seasons and the fifth time in the last 10 years.

"His emergence just allows you to do so much more with your lineup and having top-tier centermen that can also score and check is a pretty good luxury to have," Cooper said of Point's development as a big scorer and star for the Lightning.
Point has become Tampa Bay's top playmaker and the guy they look to when a big goal is needed this postseason. His playoff run is reminiscent to the one Tyler Johnson had in the 2015 Playoffs, when Johnson set the franchise record for most goals in a postseason (13) and was the Lightning's leading candidate for the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP until an injury took its toll in the Stanley Cup Final against Chicago.
Bolts Nation realizes how important Point is to the team's current run of success - the Lightning have won seven of their last eight games - but does the rest of the national media notice? Colorado's Nathan MacKinnon and Edmonton's Connor McDavid, when he was still playing, have been lauded as the playoffs' most dynamic players, and rightfully so.
Maybe it's time Point's name is thrown into the mix and he receives recognition for the incredibly-skilled plays he's been making this postseason?
"I'm not on the outside, so I don't really see what's going on there but I know he's gotten a lot of attention from us and I know he got a lot of attention from the Boston Bruins and he got a lot of attention from Columbus," Cooper said. "I would say he's on the map."