Pittsburgh Penguins @ Tampa Bay Lightning
Tampa Bay Lightning: Notes
TONIGHT’S MATCHUP
Tampa Bay opens the 2021-22 regular season by hosting the Pittsburgh Penguins at AMALIE Arena…The Lightning are opening the season against the Penguins for the third time in franchise history and first since 1996-97…The Bolts are 1-1-0 all-time in season openers against the Pens…Tampa Bay and Pittsburgh are playing for the first time since 2/11/20, a 2-1 OT Lightning win at PPG Paints Arena, Yanni Gourde netting the game-winner 2:45 into OT…The Bolts have won 4 in a row and 7 of their last 9 reg. season meetings against the Pens…Tonight will be the 99th reg. season meeting between the two teams…Tampa Bay is 43-47-3 with five ties all-time vs. PIT…The Bolts have won 5 in a row and 8 of the last 9 at home vs. PIT…Victor Hedman is on a 5-game point streak vs. PIT (1-6–7)…Nikita Kucherov has points in 3-straight games vs. PIT (1-3–4) and is Tampa Bay’s all-time points per game leader vs. PIT (1.21, 7-16–23 in 19 GP) among Bolts with a minimum 10 games…Andrei Vasilevskiy has 8 wins in 11 career reg. season starts vs. PIT; he’ll tie Daren Puppa (12 GS vs. PIT) for most starts by a TBL goalie vs. PIT his next start.
TONIGHT’S STORYLINES
The Lightning are opening the reg. season at home for the eighth-consecutive season and are 7-0-0 in their last 7 reg. season openers, outscoring their opponents 28-15…Tampa Bay is 19-7-0 with 2 ties all-time in season openers and owns the NHL’s best points percentage in season-opening contests (.714)…The Lightning have won their last 9 home openers and are 18-7-1 with 2 ties all-time in the opening home game of a new season…Tampa Bay is the 2-time defending Stanley Cup champions and will raise their 2021 Stanley Cup Championship banner tonight…The Lightning are looking to become the first NHL team to win 3-consecutive Stanley Cups since the NY Islanders won 4 in a row from 1980-83 and join the Islanders, Montreal and Toronto as just the fourth franchise in NHL history to win 3 straight.
INJURIES
2021-22 Regular Season Man Games Lost: 0
Current injuries
Cal Foote (Surgery to repair tendon in finger; Out)
Gemel Smith (Lower-body injury Sept. 28; Out indefinitely)
TRANSACTIONS
Oct. 11 — Signed head coach Jon Cooper to 3-year contract extension through 2024-25
Oct. 11 — Assigned D Andrej Sustr and D Fredrik Claesson to AHL Syracuse
BACK TO BACK
Tampa Bay became the second team of the 2000s and the first since Pittsburgh in 2016 and 2017 to win back-to-back Stanley Cups after defeating Montreal 1-0 in Game 5 of the 2021 Cup Final in front of 18,110 fans at AMALIE Arena (July 7), a year after beating Dallas 2-0 in Game 6 of the 2020 Cup Final from Edmonton’s Rogers Place (September 28)…The Lightning won back-to-back Stanley Cups in 283 days…The Bolts became the 9th different franchise to repeat as Cup champions and 5th to do so among clubs that joined the NHL in 1967-68 or later after PHI, NYI, EDM and PIT.
PRESEASON REWIND
Tampa Bay finished 3-4-0 in the preseason, winning its final 2 games 6-2 (Oct. 7) and 4-2 (Oct. 9) over Florida…Offseason acquisition Corey Perry and 3-time Cup winner Pat Maroon each scored 4 goals to pace the Lightning for goals this preseason and rank T-3rd in the NHL…Corey Perry (4-2–6), Pat Maroon (4-2–6), Brayden Point (2-4–6) and Ondrej Palat (1-5–6) led the Bolts for preseason scoring.
HANGING WITH MR. COOPER
Jon Cooper signed a 3-year contract extension Oct. 11, 2021, ensuring he’ll remain Tampa Bay’s head coach through the 2024-25 season…Cooper has led the Lightning to back-to-back Stanley Cup Championships, three Cup Finals (2015, 2020 and 2021), five Eastern Conference/Semifinal Round series (2015, 2016, 2018, 2020 and 2021) and a combined 383-197-53 record, his .647 points percentage second highest in NHL history among coaches with a minimum of 500 games (most: Scotty Bowman – .657 in 2,141 games)…Cooper needs 17 wins to become the 39th NHL coach all-time to reach 400 career wins.
ANDREI THE GIANT
Tampa Bay goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy won the 2021 Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP after going 16-7 with 5 shutouts, a 1.90 GAA and .937 save percentage…Vasilevskiy is the first goaltender born outside North American to win the Conn Smythe and the 17th goalie overall since the award’s inception in 1964-65…Vasilevskiy is the third Russian-born player to win the Conn Smythe, joining Alex Ovechkin (2018) and Evgeni Malkin (2009)…Vasilevskiy made all 22 saves in the Cup-clinching Game 5 victory over Montreal to push his active streak of series-clinching shutouts to five games, extending the longest such run in NHL history…Vasilevskiy became the first goalie in NHL history with four series-clinching shutouts in a single preseason (also: 18 saves Game 7 SCSF vs. NYI; 29 saves Game 5 2nd Rd. at CAR; 29 saves Game 6 1st Rd. vs. FLA)…Vasilevskiy also became the third goalie in League history with two Cup-clinching shutouts (also: 22 saves Game 6 2020 SCF at DAL), joining Clint Benedict and Bernie Parent…Vasilevskiy is the second goaltie in the NHL’s expansion era (since 1967-68) to claim consecutive Stanley Cup titles while earning every victory for his club across each postseason, joining Ken Dryden…Vasilevskiy’s 31 wins in the 2020-21 regular season were most among NHL goalies, the fourth-straight season he’s finished first or tied for first in the League for wins.
2020-21 REG. SEASON GOALIE WINS LEADERS
1. Andrei Vasilevskiy (TBL) – 31 wins
2. Philipp Grubauer (COL) – 30 wins
3. Marc-Andre Fleury (VGK) – 26 wins
IN THE NIK OF TIME
Lightning right wing Nikita Kucherov did not play the 2020-21 regular season due to recovery from offseason hip surgery but returned for the first game of the playoffs and notched 8 goals and 32 points to pace the NHL for postseason scoring…Kucherov also led all NHL skaters for scoring during the 2020 Playoffs (7-27–34 pts. in 25 GP) and became the sixth different player in the NHL expansion era (since 1967-68) to lead the playoffs for scoring in consecutive years (outright or tied), joining Wayne Gretzky (3x 1983-85), Guy Lafleur (3x 1977-79), Mario Lemieux (2x 1991-92), Rick MacLeish (2x 1974-75) and Phil Esposito (2x 1969-70)…Kucherov is just the third player to record 30-plus points in consecutive playoffs, joining Mario Lemieux and Wayne Gretzky.
POINTING THE WAY
Bolts center Brayden Point notched 14 goals and 23 points during the 2021 Stanley Cup Playoffs, the second-straight season he scored 14 goals in a playoff season to lead all NHL skaters…Point tied his own franchise mark for postseason goals he set a season earlier and finished with six more goals than any other NHL player during the 2021 Playoffs…Point became the eighth different player in League history to lead the playoffs in goals in consecutive years (outright or tied) and the first since Edmonton’s Jari Kurri in 1987 and 1988…Point is the first player to record 14-plus goals in consecutive playoff years since Mario Lemieux (1991 and 1992)…Point had a nine-game goal streak from Game 3 of 2nd Rd. vs. CAR to Game 6 of SCSF at NYI, the second-longest such run in NHL playoff history (only PHI Reggie Leach’s 10-game goal streak in 1976 was longer).
MAROON THREE
Tampa Bay forward Pat Maroon claimed his third-consecutive Stanley Cup after wins with STL in 2019 and TBL in 2020 and 2021, the first player to win three-straight Cups since multiple players won four in a row with the NY Islanders from 1980-83…Maroon is the fourth U.S.-born player to win three-straight Cups, joining Dave Langevin (1980-83 w/ NYI), Ken Morrow (1980-83 w/ NYI) and Bill Nyrop (1976-78 w/ MTL)…Maroon’s three Stanley Cup wins are tied for the most among active players, equaling Sidney Crosby, Marc-Andre Fleury, Niklas Hjalmarsson, Patrick Kane, Duncan Keith, Kris Letang, Evgeni Malkin and Jonathan Toews.
STAMMER TIME
Lightning captain Steven Stamkos notched 8 goals and 18 points during the 2021 Playoffs, ranking tied for third on the Bolts and in the NHL for postseason scoring a season after he played just 2:47 in the entire 2020 Playoffs due to injury…Stamkos set a career high for playoff goals and matched his career high for playoff scoring (also: 7-11–18 pts. in 2015)…Stamkos became the first player in Tampa Bay history to captain the Bolts to two Stanley Cup Championships…Stamkos is Tampa Bay’s franchise leader for Opening Night scoring tallying 3 goals and 14 points in 13 career Opening Night games.
HED OF THE CLASS
Bolts defenseman Victor Hedman recorded 2 goals and 18 points during the 2021 Playoffs to ranked tied for third on the Bolts and in the NHL for postseason scoring and first among NHL defensemen…Hedman set career highs for assists (16) and power-play scoring (13 pts.) in the 2021 Playoffs…Hedman finished tied for third among NHL defensemen for scoring (9-36–45 pts.) during the 2020-21 regular season…Hedman ranked seventh in the NHL for avg. time on ice (25:03) last season and has paced Tampa Bay for avg. time on ice 8-consecutive seasons entering 2021-22.
