Stamkos highlights value to Lightning with record night

EDMONTON -- Steven Stamkos has played 1,031 games in the NHL and scored 529 goals, but prior to Thursday against the Edmonton Oilers the Tampa Bay Lightning forward never had four in one game.

He did that in a 7-4 win against the Oilers at Rogers Place. Under normal circumstances, it would have been enough to earn the 33-year-old first-star honors, but goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy stole those with a 53-save performance.

But the impact of Stamkos’ performance, on so many levels, should not be discounted.

“[Stamkos] looks at me after the fourth one and says, ‘First time ever,’” Lightning coach Jon Cooper said after the win. “I was like, ‘You have 500 of them, and that was the first time you’ve had four in a game?’ And he said, ‘Yeah,’ so we had a little chuckle on the bench. But you need your big guys to come out and when the game is on the line; ‘Vasi’ and ‘Stammer’ did that tonight.”

The four goals gave Stamkos 30 points (14 goals, 16 assists) in 28 games this season. He had not scored since a 3-1 win against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Nov. 30.

“The last week or two, I’ve had some really quality chances that haven’t gone in the net,” said Stamkos, the Lightning captain. “It’s probably been bunching up for a moment like this and that’s what happens, they come in spurts usually. So you just try not to get too down and continue to shoot the puck and obviously, they went in tonight, which was really nice to see.”

It was a game full of offensive stars.

Tampa Bay’s Nikita Kucherov leads the NHL in scoring and became the first player to reach 50 points (20 goals, 30 assists) this season. Edmonton’s Connor McDavid, the reigning Art Ross Trophy winner as the League's top scorer, is fourth with 40 points (11 goals, 29 assists) in 25 games and has an 11-game points streak in which he has 26 points (seven goals, 19 assists). Teammate Leon Draisaitl, who has scored mored than 100 points in four of the past five seasons, has 33 points (12 goals, 21 assists).

But the 33-year-old Stamkos shone the brightest on this night.

“Nobody says he’s not a star anymore, he’s up there,” Lightning defenseman Mikhail Sergachev said. “He’s getting points, he’s getting goals and providing for us. But on top of that, he’s a big presence in the room too.”

While Vasilevskiy was shutting the door at one end, Stamkos was carrying the offense at the other. He opened the scoring 1:07 into the game on the power play, finding the short side on goalie Stuart Skinner.

Stamkos tied the game 3-3 at 6:48 of the third period, batting in a rebound from the side of the net. He then put Tampa Bay up 5-3 at 14:04, snapping in a shot from just inside the blue line off the goal post.

The hat trick was the 12th of Stamkos’ NHL career, but he was not done, scoring into an empty net with seven seconds remaining.

“I always think that he needs to shoot more and more,” Sergachev said. “He’s got to shoot 10 times in a game and he’s going to score two. He’s got a very accurate shot and he’s been in the League for 15 years, being a leader on this team and he’s just a threat out there. He shot it from the blue line today and scored because their goalie got screened a little bit. Anywhere he shoots it from, he’s got a chance.”

Stamkos’ shot count had been down in his previous eight games, when he'd scored one goal on 21 shots. He sat out a 4-3 win at the Seattle Kraken on Dec. 9 because of an illness but was back to full health against the Oilers, finishing with seven shots two nights after having five against the Vancouver Canucks.

The first-period goal was the 200th power-play goal of his NHL career.

“I didn’t even realize it until [assistant Jeff Halpern] said something on the bench,” Stamkos said. “That’s pretty special, anytime you can join a club with the names that are on that list of 200 power-play goals, it’s pretty unique and pretty cool. Obviously, I’ve been fortunate to play on some pretty good power plays in my career here in Tampa. Just think of all the great plays that have been made and all the opportunities I’ve had and scored, that’s cool.”

A two-time Stanley Cup champion, Stamkos has always been a gifted goal-scorer. The No. 1 selection in the 2008 NHL Draft by the Lightning knew the puck was eventually going to start bouncing in his direction during this stretch.

“I’ve been hitting a lot of posts lately, chances that normally go in the net, haven’t,” Stamkos said. “You’re human, you’re going to get a little in your own head sometimes, but when you get those chances, you just keep shooting them. Eventually the odds say that they’re going to go in the net and there are a couple of ones that maybe weren’t traditional goals tonight, but when you throw pucks at the net you never know.”

The Lightning (14-12-5) are in a dogfight in the crowded race for a Stanley Cup Playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. In order to get into the playoffs for the seventh consecutive season and possibly make the Stanley Cup Final for the fourth time in five seasons, the Lightning say they need Stamkos to keep shooting.

“He’s going to go to Hall of Fame because he shot the puck,” Cooper said. “For some guys, the puck has eyes and the more you do it the more they go in. You look at ‘Kuch’s’ numbers, he’s having big goal numbers because he’s shooting the puck more than he’s ever shot it. For guys that can score, that’s a big thing for them.”