For a lot of the first two months of the season, the Tampa Bay Lightning were heavily dependent on their top players for offense.
Nikita Kucherov and Steven Stamkos have been having great seasons and are expected to drive the bus for this team offensively. But for a lot of this season, the Lightning were getting very little outside of their group of stars and Mikhail Sergachev on the back-end.
Over this current home-stand, the Lightning depth has been able to find their way onto the scoresheet more often. Through these five games, Vlad Namestnikov, Pat Maroon and Erik Cernak have each recorded their first goals of the season.
Perfect placement from Eric Cernak for his first of the season. ⚡️ pic.twitter.com/zS4iFcYuPX
— NHL (@NHL) December 14, 2022
Corey Perry has continued to be quite a threat on the Lightning power play regardless of which unit he is working with. Perry has two power play goals in the last three games and has eight points on the power play this season.
Corey Perry capitalizes on the power play!
WATCH ➡️ https://t.co/Ul5TApbg5K#NHL | #GoBolts pic.twitter.com/dyK3bmeZPD
— Bally Sports Sun: Lightning (@BallyLightning) December 14, 2022
In addition to the depth on offense, the defense have been contributing more offensively as well. Over the last two games, the Lightning have gotten three goals from their defensemen. Two of those came from defensive defensemen Ian Cole and Erik Cernak on Tuesday night against Seattle.
A lot of the depth contributions can be attributed to Anthony Cirelli returning to the Lightning lineup and joining the bottom six. The forward group is now significantly more balanced with him back and playing lower in the lineup, allowing some of the pressure to be taken off the top guys who were being relied upon so heavily.