FIRST STAR - STEVEN STAMKOS, C, TAMPA BAY LIGHTNING
Stamkos led the NHL with 12-21-33 in 16 games - a franchise record for points in a calendar month and the most by any player since Mario Lemieux in December 1995 (12-22-34 in 14 GP w/ PIT) - to power the two-time defending Stanley Cup champion Lightning (51-23-8, 110 points) to a 9-5-2 April and their fifth straight postseason berth. Stamkos found the scoresheet in 14 of his 16 appearances, highlighted by a streak of nine consecutive multi-point performances to finish the season (10-16-26) - another Tampa Bay record and the longest such run by any player since Jaromir Jagr in 1995-96 (10 GP w/ PIT). Stamkos' stretch included five straight games with at least three points (April 19-26: 6-11-17), a first by any NHLer since Jari Kurri in 1992-93 (6 GP w/ LAK). It also saw the Lightning captain overtake Martin St. Louis for
the most points in franchise history
, hit the 100-point milestone for the first time and cap the regular season with a hat trick (April 29 at NYI) as he reached the 40-goal milestone for a sixth time (and first since 2018-19). The 14-season veteran - who scored three game-winning goals during the month (April 16 vs. WPG, April 26 vs. CBJ and April 29 at NYI) - played in 81 total contests in 2021-22, ranking among the League leaders in game-winning goals (t-1st; 11), power-play goals (t-3rd; 16), points (7th; 106), power-play points (8th; 36), assists (9th; 64) and goals (t-9th; 42).
