The Lightning are not exciting anymore, and that’s okay
After years of competing at a high level, the Tampa Bay Lightning have reached a point that all teams would love to reach: being so good that they’re boring.
The Lightning have been one of the NHL’s most talented and dangerous teams for the better part of the last decade. In 2022-2023, the Bolts, who have won the Eastern Conference each of the last three seasons, are at it again.
Entering play on Wednesday, they have a 28-13-1 record, which is good for third place in the Atlantic Division. This is a top-ten team in the NHL, just as fans have come to expect, and for the time being, no one really seems to care.
The Tampa Bay Lightning are boring in the best way.
That’s great for Tampa Bay, because it’s a testament to just how good this group is. As you think back to when this team drew the most headlines, it was during its original rise to contention back in 2015, its 128-point season in 2019, and its bid for a three-peat last season.
All of those things grabbed the NHL’s attention, because they were either new or uncommon. The Lightning have long been one of the league’s most exciting teams, but now that fans have grown accustomed to their greatness, nothing truly matters until the Stanley Cup Playoffs arrive.
I mean, Nikita Kucherov is tied for third in the NHL in points with 62, but the hockey world is more inclined to talk about the rise of the players right behind him. Why? Because we simply expect Kucherov to be in this position.
The Tampa Bay power play is scoring 28.8% of the time, which is second in the league. But we expect that to be the case. The team has had two four-game winning streaks since Christmas, but that doesn’t stand out, because that’s just what the Lightning do.
The only thing that really created headlines this season for the Bolts was captain Steven Stamkos and his milestone pursuit.
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If the Lightning become a heavily-discussed team in the regular season, this year or in the near future, it’s probably because something isn’t going according to plan. For that reason, this team being boring from October until April is perfectly okay.