yave1964 Posted March 22, 2019 Share Posted March 22, 2019 Coming down the stretch the Bolts now have given up 198 goals and have scored 298 for exactly a plus 100 goal differential. Absolutely outstanding. Last year the league leader was (again) the Bolts with a very good plus 60. To put it in perspective, the great Oilers teams under Gertzky used to do that on a regular basis, the Wings in 1996 were plus 144, the Canadiens dynasty under Lafleur and Dryden were plus 100 every year, and in 1976-77 they scored 387 and gave up 171 for a ridiculous plus 216. In fact, Larry Robinson by himself that year was plus 120! Still in the salary cap era a plus 100 and still climbing is a remarkable feat. It only matters if they win the cup but wow this team is stacked. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TropicalFruitGirl26 Posted March 22, 2019 Share Posted March 22, 2019 Realized this stat yesterday as I was looking over some post game stuff. Really is remarkable and ridiculous at the same time. And to think, I always felt the Tampa Bay defense was "good", just not "great", because I do see that they tend, on more than a few occasions, give up quality scoring chances to the opposition. I still feel the TB defense can be exploited under the right conditions (and a team with the right strategy and/or playstyle), however, what a difference having goalies (both Vasilevskiy and Domingue) that can just plain make stops when the defense fails! So overall, that +100 really is the concerted effort of the defense, the offense for constantly playing in the offensive zone, and the goalies keeping things out when all heck breaks loose and the other team comes rushing past the Bolt defenders! Gretzky's Oilers? Yzerman's Wings? Robinsons's Canadiens? Elite company to be mentioned with for sure......but like you said, @yave1964 , none of it will really matter unless the Lightning bring home that Cup once again! This year, why not? I know the team is built to have several runs at many Cups, but since nothing is guaranteed, why not just grab a Cup when you can? And this year, with all the team and individual accomplishments (long standing TB player records have been falling left n right, mostly due to Kucherov, Stamkos, and Vasilevskiy!), would still be tainted if the Bolts don't win it all. Fortunately for us Lightning fans, the team really does seem to take the challenge seriously, not resting on any laurels, and look dead set on quieting the naysayers who may still call them "a great regular season team...but....." The team doesn't seem to be buying into the media hype being heaped on them, and just about every time a player is interviewed about some accomplishment, it usually comes back around to the PLAYER himself saying, "We still got a big prize we need to win". Gotta love that! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Puck_Pun Posted March 22, 2019 Share Posted March 22, 2019 An impressive feat indeed, and certainly they're the team to beat in the East. I'll certainly be making a point of watching their playoff games Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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