Tampa Bay Lightning are playing their best hockey since 2022-23

The Tampa Bay Lightning had a lot of questions heading into the 2024-25 season after losing Steven Stamkos and Mikhail Sergachev in the offseason. While the Lightning added Carolina Hurricanes and former Pittsburgh Penguins star forward Jake Guentzel in a trade involving a third-round pick, and Utah’s young and growing star defenseman in JJ Moser along with Utah’s top prospect in Conor Geekie in Sergachev -Trade, fans didn’t believe the Lightning have improved, and many are wondering if they would do worse this season.

Although the sample size is small, the Tampa Bay Lightning look like a brand new team that could compete for a top-three spot in the division. Through three games, Tampa has scored 4.00 goals per game and allowed just 1.67 goals against per game, with Andrei Vasilevskiy’s .932 save percentage on 73 shots being an impressive number for a goalie who was reportedly on a losing streak last year, after missing two months due to injury.

However, Vasilevskiy is not the only player who has had a great start to the season. Nikita Kucherov has six goals and one assist for seven points in just three games. Kucherov’s new linemate Jake Guentzel also integrated well into the team over the three games, providing four assists for four points and dominating 5-on-5 play. New Lightning captain Victor Hedman also got off to a strong start to the season with four assists for four points.

The Tampa Bay Lightning will be a team to compete with all season long

While this is a small sample in a long 82-game regular season, this is the best start the Lightning have had in many years, and the team looks as good as it has since the first half of the 2022–23 season. While their defense and 5-on-5 play were among the best in the league, their only problem is their power play.

Tampa’s power play is in the bottom half of the league at 15.4%, a far different number than what the Lightning had to finish the 2023-24 season with the best power play in the league. Losing Stamkos has demonstrably hurt the Lightning on the power play, but it has reignited the 5-on-5 game that has helped Tampa dominate the league for the past decade.

The loss of Sergachev isn’t good for the power play either, but newcomer Moser has proven to be a good replacement as he has fit in well with his new team, recording a goal and two assists for three points in just three games. With the defense still looking the same as it did in their Cup-winning days, Lightning fans have a lot to look forward to as they look to continue their winning streak on the road against the Ottawa Senators, a team looking to knock Tampa out of the playoffs in this spot Season that you can take with you yourself.

If this team can sustain this play all season long, it wouldn’t be surprising to see the Lightning become one of the favorites to win the Stanley Cup at the end of the calendar year.