2. Goal-scoring prowess from all locations<\/p>\n
The Lightning finished fourth in the NHL in goals per game (3.49) last season and ranked among the League leaders in high-danger goals (154, second), high-danger shots on goal (686; 10th), long-range goals (21; eighth) and long-range shots on goal (515; fifth). Kucherov excelled in those categories, but he also helped elevate others around him as he had 51 primary assists (third in NHL) last season. \u00a0<\/p>\n
Jake Guentzel<\/a>\u00a0, who ranks second on the Lightning in goals (79) behind Kucherov (81) since the start of the 2024-25 season, finished among the League leaders in high-danger goals (26; tied for third) and high-danger shots on goal (116; third) last season. In his first season with Tampa Bay in 2024-25, Guentzel ranked second in the NHL in high-danger goals (27) and was tied for third in high-danger shots on goal (114). Guentzel also ranked among the forward leaders in mid-range goals (eight; 86th percentile) and mid-range shots on goal (62; 88th percentile) last season. The 31-year-old, who ranked highly at his position in skating distance at all strengths (252.15 miles; 96th percentile) and on the power play last season (37.79; 97th percentile), is tied for 10th in the NHL in power-play goals (25) over the past two seasons.\u00a0<\/p>\n Brayden Point<\/a>\u00a0led the NHL in high-danger goals (28) in 2024-25 and finished highly among forwards in high-danger goals (13; 83rd percentile) and high-danger shots on goal (69; 90th percentile) last season. Despite missing 19 games, Point ranked eighth in the NHL in 20-plus mph speed bursts (315) and was tied for sixth in 22-plus mph bursts (36). Point also finished highly at his position last season in max skating speed (23.46 mph; 94th percentile), offensive zone starts percentage (43.0; 93rd percentile) and skating distance on the power play (33.75 miles; 92nd percentile).\u00a0<\/p>\n Brandon Hagel<\/a>\u00a0scored a career-high 36 goals last season and ranked highly among forwards in high-danger goals (20; 97th percentile), mid-range goals (14; 97th percentile), mid-range shots on goal (92; 97th percentile), high-danger shots on goal (74; 93rd percentile) and long-range shots on goal (19; 89th percentile). Hagel, who is considered one of the best two-way forwards in the NHL, also ranked among the leaders at his position in skating distance on the penalty kill (21.30 miles; 92nd percentile), 22-plus mph speed bursts (12; 92nd percentile), 20-plus mph bursts (166; 89th percentile) and max skating speed (23.22 mph; 90th percentile). Anthony Cirelli<\/a>, who is Hagel’s frequent linemate while short-handed, ranked in the 98th percentile among forwards in total miles skated on the penalty kill (26.17) and finished highly at his position in high-danger goals (15; 90th percentile), high-danger shots on goal (68; 90th percentile) and long-range goals (two; 93rd percentile).\u00a0<\/p>\n It’s worth noting that defenseman John Carlson<\/a>, who signed a two-year contract with the Lightning in the offseason, ranked highly at his position in long-range goals (five; 96th percentile), mid-range goals (six; 94th percentile), high-danger shots on goal (15; 97th percentile), mid-range shots on goal (34; 92nd percentile) and long-range shots on goal (67; 87th percentile) last season. Carlson could play a key role for the Lightning on their first power-play unit after Darren Raddysh<\/a>, who led the NHL in long-range goals last season (nine), was traded to the Toronto Maple Leafs in the offseason.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"2. Goal-scoring prowess from all locations The Lightning finished fourth in the NHL in goals per game (3.49)…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":381356,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[135,137,136],"class_list":["post-381355","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tampa","tag-tampa","tag-tampa-headlines","tag-tampa-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/381355","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=381355"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/381355\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/381356"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=381355"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=381355"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=381355"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}