11 Down: The Five Biggest Takeaways from the Lightning’s First Games
We are now in the full swing of hockey season!
The Tampa Bay Lightning has played its first 11 games of the 2024-2025 NHL season. There have been incredible performances, debuts, and an extremely emotional return of a certain player. Basically, there’s a lot to talk about.
Though the season is still very young, we can now spot trends and qualities that identify what this year’s team is, at least for the start of the year. So, let’s take a look at these things. Here are the five biggest takeaways from the Bolts’ first games.
Good but Need Improvement
The Bolts have started the season with a 7-4-0 record. Those wins included convincing victories over 2023 playoff teams in the Vancouver Canucks and Carolina Hurricanes and a 3-0 shutout of the Washington Capitals. The losses were two hard-fought battles against the Ottawa Senators and Minnesota Wild and a blowout loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs that saw Andrei Vasilevskiy get benched.
When you look at their performances in these games, you see what clearly is a good hockey team that should be competing for the playoffs. At the same time, you see some flaws that could hold them back from being contenders, though they are flaws that can be improved.
The biggest question mark is the team’s defense. They gave up five straight goals to the Maple Leafs and the New Jersey Devils, in which the Bolts needed to score eight goals to get the win. But then there are games where the defense looks solid, such as the Capitals game and when they gave up only one goal to the Canucks.
The team’s offense, on the other hand, is its key strength. The Bolts scored four goals in the first four games and, as previously mentioned, eight goals against the Devils. The offense has shown it can win offensive shootout battles, like in the 4-3 win over the Vegas Golden Knights, and the Devils game in particular shows that the offense can sometimes make up for a poor defense.
So to sum it up, in there Bolts’ first 10 games they have shown that they are a good NHL team, but will need to work on opening out some kinks in the defense if they want to be at the top.
Kucherov is Still Kucherov
Despite winning the Art Ross Trophy last year, this guy wasn’t awarded the Hart Trophy. I guess that pissed him off because it looks like he’s about to go on a revenge tour this season.
Nikita Kucherov has simply been excellent for the Lightning. He started the season with a hat trick and a point game and has never looked back from there.
In 10 games, Kucherov has recorded nine goals and 17 points. He is currently tied for the second most goals and tied for the third most points in the league. He recorded at least one point in the Bolt’s first eight games, and if a goal against the Nashville Predators hadn’t been called back due to being offsides, that streak would have extended to 10 games.
In 10 games Kucherov has shown he is still one of the best players in hockey and if he can continue to play like this then he may have another shot at winning the Hart Trophy.
New Additions Making an Impact
This season has seen the Lightning debuts for several players, and many of those players have already made an impact.
The most notable of these new Bolts is Jake Guentzel. The former All-Star has emerged as one of the Bolts’ best players, recording 11 points. He has made a huge impact on the first line and his play is a huge reason for the success Kucherov has been having.
Then there are the two guys the Lightning got from the Mikhail Sergachev trade. J.J. Moser has put up six points and leads the team with a +/- of 12, which is also tied for the best in the league. And then there’s former 11th-overall pick Conor Geekie. The rookie may only have three points, two goals and an assist, but he’s worth noting because of what you can’t see on the stat sheet. Geekie has shown himself to be a hardworking player who has created a ton of great scoring chances for the Bolts. Until he scored his first goal, the thought among Bolt fans was that he was eventually gonna score because he had done a great job at creating chances. At only 20 years old, Geekie’s play should excite Bolts fans, as it shows that, with some time to get used to playing in the NHL, he could be a huge contributor to future Lightning teams.
Vasy Not at Peak Form Yet
Do not get it confused, Vasilevskiy has been very good. However, it’s clear he isn’t at his best. So far this season he has gone 6-4 with a goals-against average of 2.47 and a .906 save percentage. He’s had moments where he’ll make an impact crinkle save and wow you. Then there are games like the one against the Maple Leafs where he gives up five goals and gets benched.
After he recorded his first shutout against the Capitals, Lightning radio commentary Phil Esposito said that “he needed that.” And that’s true. This performance showed he still is one of the best goalies in the league. He just needs to show that side more often. Hopefully, his shutout and performance against the Capitals and solid performances against the Predators and Avalanche will give him the confidence she needs to turn into the Big Cat.
Tampa Misses Stammer
This last entry has nothing to do with play on the ice. We just wanted to highlight what might have been one of the most emotional moments in Tampa Sports history.
In the team’s ninth game, they faced off against the Predators. That game saw former longtime captain and consensus greatest player in Bolts’ history Steven Stamkos return to Tampa. This game showed the true heartbreak Bolts fans felt from letting him walk. It was an emotional night. The video tribute that made fans cry. The long and loud standing ovation he got when introduced to the crowd. All of the signs that said “We miss you.” Fans were chanting his name. You saw the impact he had on Tampa that night.
The Bolts would go on to win this game thanks to a Nick Paul goal in overtime. But that wasn’t the biggest story. That was the fans getting a chance to say thank you to Stamkos, who had his best game of the season so far recording two assists. Without a doubt, this was one of the most notable regular season games in Lightning history.
