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Signs point to deep Lightning playoff run

 
The Lightning is counting on goalie Ben Bishop being healthy for the playoffs. Bishop missed last year’s first-round sweep by the Canadiens with a dislocated elbow suffered near the end of the regular season.
The Lightning is counting on goalie Ben Bishop being healthy for the playoffs. Bishop missed last year’s first-round sweep by the Canadiens with a dislocated elbow suffered near the end of the regular season.
Published March 29, 2015

DETROIT — Though the Lightning didn't clinch a playoff berth Saturday, that appears merely a formality.

Tampa Bay will be in the playoffs. The biggest question that remains is how far it can go once it gets there.

In one word: deep.

This team is noticeably better — and more playoff-ready — than the one that got swept in the first round by the Canadiens last April.

"It's night and day," coach Jon Cooper.

The difference starts in net. Had Ben Bishop, a Vezina Trophy finalist last year, not dislocated an elbow shortly before last year's playoffs, Tampa Bay might have had a different fate. Sure, Bishop doesn't have playoff experience, but with him and touted rookie Andrei Vasilevskiy as his backup, Cooper feels like he has two No. 1s.

There's also better depth. Tampa Bay, the league's highest-scoring team, can wear teams down by rolling four lines. The "Triplets" — Ondrej Palat, Tyler Johnson and Nikita Kucherov — form one of the most productive, dynamic lines in the league. Steven Stamkos has 40 goals. Nashville coach Peter Laviolette said the Lighting's third line is like a first line. And fourth-line center Brian Boyle has 15 goals. Usually in the playoffs secondary scoring is vital, and few teams have more of it than Tampa Bay. Every forward is a threat and responsible defensively.

"We're better; we're deeper," Cooper said. "I don't, as a coach, feel like I have to line match as much anymore. I can put the Boyle line out there versus whatever line and not even lose sleep about it. That's the difference."

But the biggest difference is the blue line. Adding veterans Anton Stralman and Jason Garrison in the offseason solidified and seasoned the defense (though if Garrison's upper-body injury suffered Saturday against the Red Wings is serious, that would be a big blow). The Lightning expects fellow veteran, and trade-deadline acquisition, Braydon Coburn (lower-body injury) back for the playoffs. Victor Hedman is coming into his own. Matt Carle is healthy. Andrej Sustr and Mark Barberio have another year of experience.

This group seems to have a more mature, resilient mentality, too. Winning 92 games combined the past two seasons will do that. The Lightning is ticked off when it loses. And it responds well when it does, which is why it hasn't lost three games in a row all season.

Those who were wide-eyed rookies in their first playoffs last season, such as Johnson and Palat, know what to expect. Tampa Bay has battle-tested vets, with Boyle, Stralman, Carle, Coburn, Valtteri Filppula and Brenden Morrow among those who have played in a Stanley Cup final.

Don't be surprised if they find themselves back in another one.