Tampa Bay by the numbers: How bonkers was the 2018-19 season?
Nikita Kucherov splits two Bruins defenders, then taps a soft shot past Tuukka Rask in Tampa Bay’s 6-3 win against Boston. (0:32)
The numbers tell the story for the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2018-19. The wins and points in the standings, placing them in the conversation for best regular-season team in the history of the National Hockey League. The offensive team statistics that reveal them to be a juggernaut. The individual accomplishments of their top players that will net them some hardware at the NHL Awards this summer.
But perhaps the most stunning number related to the Lightning’s accomplishments? That would $79.5 million. That’s the upper limit of the salary cap, and Tampa Bay’s payroll was meticulously constructed to be underneath it over the last few seasons.
Keep that in mind while examining these facts and figures about the 2018-19 Presidents’ Trophy winner. Other dominant regular season teams in NHL history — the 1995-96 Detroit Red Wings, the 1976-77 Montreal Canadiens — had no such constraints. What the Lightning have done over the last several months, then, is unprecedented.
Here are 25 stunning numbers about the 2018-19 Tampa Bay Lightning:
Note: Additional research by Vince Masi, ESPN Stats & Information. Stats via Hockey Reference and NHL.com.
With 62 wins, the Tampa Bay Lightning tied the 1995-96 Red Wings for the most by a team in the regular season in NHL history.
Their 30 road wins are second all-time in the NHL, behind the 2005-06 Detroit Red Wings (31).
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With a points percentage of .780, the Lightning have the second-highest rate in NHL history for an 82-game season behind the 1995-95 Detroit Red Wings (.799). It’s the fifth-best in NHL history for a team with at least 80 games played.
The Lightning are 21 points ahead of the second-place Calgary Flames and Boston Bruins, the widest gap between first- and second-place overall teams since the 1995-96 Red Wings finished 27 points ahead of the Colorado Avalanche.
Tampa Bay is only the second team in NHL history to post four different winning streaks of seven games or more in a single season. The other team? The 1983-84 Wayne Gretzky-led Edmonton Oilers.
The Lightning finished with a goal differential of plus-103, the second highest mark in the last 20 years. The only team with a higher rate was the 2005-06 Senators (+107).
Their 3.96 goals per game is the highest in the NHL since 1996.
There have been 37 games this season where they’ve scored five or more goals, most by a team since the 1995-96 Pittsburgh Penguins had 41.
There have been 19 games this season where they’ve scored six or more goals, most by a team since 1995-96, when the Penguins did it 26 times.
The Lightning have trailed going into the third period 21 times this season, fewest in the NHL and the fewest times since the 2008-09 Boston Bruins (17).
The Lightning have a power-play percentage of 28.1 this season, which is the highest in NHL history for an 82-game season. It’s the highest overall since the 1987-88 Calgary Flames, were at 28.5 percent in an 80-game season.
The Lightning have a 33.0 percent power-play percentage on the road, the highest since the NHL began tracking the stat in 1977.
Nikita Kucherov‘s 48 power-play points are the most for a player in the last 11 seasons. They also set a new franchise record for a single season for the Lightning.
The Lightning could never be counted out. They had 29 come-from-behind wins this season, which set a new record previously held by the 2015-16 Washington Capitals, who had 28 such victories.
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They had a .600 points percentage when trailing after one period (15-10-0), which led the league, and were the only team over .500 in that situation this season. That’s the highest percentage in 20 years.
They had a .429 points percentage when trailing after two periods this season (9-12-0). That’s the best in the history of the NHL for an 82-game season. The next-best points percentage this season were the Flames, at .250.
Goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy has a career high in save percentage (.925) and goals-against average (2.40) this season in 53 games. He’s in a near-statistical tie with Carey Price of the Montreal Canadiens in goalie point shares, or the amount of points the goalie has added to his team’s record, at 12.4.
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In Steven Stamkos (45), Nikita Kucherov (41) and Brayden Point (41), the Lightning are the first team since the 1995-96 Pittsburgh Penguins (Mario Lemieux, Jaromir Jagr, Petr Nedved) to have three 40-goal scorers.
Among the players who set new career highs in points this season in Tampa: Kucherov (128), Point (92) and Ryan McDonagh (46 points).
In Stamkos (98), Kucherov (128) and Point (92), the Lightning are the first team to have three 90-point scorers since the 2005-06 season.
Kucherov’s 128 points shattered the franchise record, previously set by Vincent Lecavalier (108 points) in 2006-07. Kucherov’s total is the best of any player since Mark Messier’s 129 in 1989-90. Yes, that was 29 years ago.
Stamkos (393 goals) passed Lecavalier (383) this season for most goals by Lightning player in their career in Tampa. Vinny needed 1,037 games. Stamkos did it in 746.
Kucherov was the first player in 20 years to hit 120 points in just 75 games, and just the fifth player since 1993-94 to do so.
Kucherov is averaging 3.3 points per 60 minutes of 5-on-5 play, the highest average since 2012.
Kucherov leads the NHL in point shares with 14.3.