Stamkos line looks to break out of slump in Game 3

There's no sugarcoating the struggles Tampa Bay's top line has gone through over the first two games of the Lightning's Second Round playoff series versus Boston.

The trio of J.T. Miller, Steven Stamkos and Nikita Kucherov were shut out in Games 1 and 2, this after Kucherov set a Lightning franchise scoring record for a series with 10 points against New Jersey, Stamkos pointed in every game of the Devils series and Miller chipped in a goal and three assists.
The Lightning offense hasn't necessarily gone dry with its top line unable to contribute. The Bolts are averaging three goals an outing through the first two games of the series, which is their benchmark for playoff wins. When the Lightning score three or more goals in the postseason, they've won all five game in these playoffs and 10 straight dating back to the 2016 playoffs.
But for the Lightning to sustain that offensive output through the remainder of the Boston series, their biggest scoring threats have to convert rather than just be threats.
"The good thing for us is that line doesn't stay quiet for long," Lightning head coach Jon Cooper said following his team's morning skate at Boston's TD Garden, site of tonight's Game 3. "They've been quiet for a couple games, but at some point they're going to come out and very much like the New Jersey series where they were actually pointing early, but it was mostly special teams points, power play, but as that series drew on, Kucherov really took that game over, especially in Games 4 and 5. That's why they're elite players because you can't keep them down for long. If they can get going or we can keep our other lines chipping in, that'll be huge for us."

Boston has certainly focused a lot of its defensive energy on shutting down the Stamkos line, and for good reason. Kucherov finished the regular season as one of just three players in the NHL to reach the 100-point mark. Stamkos set a career high for assists (59) and put up 86 points, his most since the 2011-12 season. And Miller was as hot as any player on the Lightning following the trade deadline deal that brought him to Tampa Bay, the 25 year old leading the Bolts for goals (10) and ranked tied for second on the team for scoring (18 pts.) over the final 20 games of the regular season.
But, as Stamkos said Wednesday, his group needs to contribute offensively no matter what the opposition is doing to prevent it.
"I think most of the time when you're not producing, it's more on you," Stamkos said. "Obviously, they've got some really good defenders over there, but just execution a little bit for us just hasn't been there. We've talked it over. It hasn't been two games where we've been totally outplayed in our D zone. We haven't spent too much in our D zone at all…Obviously you want to produce, and we'll look to do that tonight."
The Stamkos line hasn't been completely shut down against Boston. The chances have been there at times, they just haven't been able to convert them.
Not yet anyway.
"I think the Point, Bergeron lines have gotten a lot of the headlines in this series," Cooper said. "Stamkos' line, you look at the chances against and all that, they're not on for any. I look at some of the chances they had in (Game 2), Kucherov had a 10-bell chance. Miller had a 10-bell chance. They just didn't go in. Those go in and everybody's feeling good about themselves."
With the series shifting to Boston, the Stamkos line will likely have to play some minutes defending against Boston's best line of David Pastrnak, Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchand, which has been one of the NHL's best through the regular season and continuing into the playoffs. The Bolts' second line - Ondrej Palat, Brayden Point and Tyler Johnson - were victimized by that Bruins' grouping in Game 1 but rebounded to shut them down in Game 2 and lead the Lightning charge offensively as well.

Now with the Bruins owning the last change at home, Boston head coach Bruce Cassidy will likely try to get his top line out against the Stamkos line.
Stamkos hopes the challenge of shutting that trio down can ignite his group offensively.
"Definitely no stranger to playing against Bergeron, I've done it throughout my whole career pretty much, and Kuch, and we're used to that," Stamkos said. "If we do see those guys, we'll hope to elevate our game and hopefully that's a challenge to maybe spark us if that's the case. But if not, we'll continue to try to be better. Obviously, Pointer's line showed they're up for that task if they do that. We'll see. You can't control anything on the road. You just have to be ready for all possibilities."
What about the possibility of the Stamkos line regaining its form while the Bolts' other three lines continue to contribute like they have in the first two games of the series?
That would be the perfect scenario for Tampa Bay.
"That's the strength of our team to have multiple lines that can get it done," Miller said. "Pointer's line last game came up big [in Game 2] playing against one of the best lines in the league and pretty much shut them down and then to get all of our goals for the most part was pretty awesome. So, I think we understand if we keep playing our game, it'll come. We can't force it or get frustrated with ourselves. Just be patient."