May 27, 2016
Focus on Stamkos now shifts to the offseason
All the news surrounding Steven Stamkos over the last few weeks focused solely on whether he was healthy enough to return to the Tampa Bay Lightning lineup for the playoffs. And now that their run is over, The Stamkos Watch takes on a whole different meaning.
TSN.ca Staff
All the news surrounding Steven Stamkos over the last few weeks focused solely on whether he was healthy enough to return to the Tampa Bay Lightning lineup for the Stanley Cup playoffs.
And now that their run is over, The Stamkos Watch takes on a whole different meaning.
With the Lightning eliminated and the NHL's postseason nearing the end, much of the talk around the game will shift to the superstar centre's pending status as an unrestricted free agent.
Stamkos, however, was not biting on offseason questions after Tampa's 2-1 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins on Thursday night. "No," he replied flatly when asked if he thought about the possibility of Game 7 being his last as a member of the Lightning.
While Stamkos wasn't revealing what the summer might bring, he was much more forthcoming on his decision to return to the lineup. He practiced with his teammates over the last few weeks but was waiting to be cleared by doctors because he is taking blood thinners as he recovers from blood clot surgery.
“In order to come back and play, you have to be past that not only physically but mentally and I was past that, so I didn’t feel any tentativeness or anything like that," he said. "My legs felt good.
"I’ve been working hard to give myself a chance to come back and it was just too bad it was in that fashion."
Stamkos, who played his first game since Mar. 31, logged in just under 12 minutes of ice time on the third line between Ondrej Palat and Ryan Callahan and had one of Tampa Bay's best scoring chances of the night.
"The first couple of shifts, once you get those under your belt it comes back," he explained. "Obviously, when you don’t play for that extended period of time and Game 7 is not easy, but I felt like the legs were good.
"There wasn’t a lot of room out there. (The Penguins) played pretty well defensively. So, it wasn’t our best game by any means."
It was, however, an impressive run for the Lightning - who made came within one win of back-to-back Stanley Cup Final appearances with lengthy injuries to Stamkos, key blueliner Anton Stralman and No. 1 netminder Ben Bishop.
"It was special for me to get back on the ice with these guys, this group," said Stamkos. We’re such a tight group.
"We’re a team that has gone through a lot this year, different types of adversity and we’ve come through with flying colours. It just didn’t happen tonight for whatever reason. Usually, these are the moments that things go well because of the things you had to endure as a group, but, for whatever reason, we’re going to learn from this and, hopefully, come back stronger."