The Tampa Bay Lightning‘s February schedule went nearly as well as it possibly could have. They had a short schedule due to the 4 Nations Face-Off, but they took advantage of every game. They finished the month 7-0-1, picking up at least one point in each contest. They improved to 34-20-4 with 72 points on the season and sit third in the Atlantic Division.
With the month concluded, it’s time to acknowledge the top contributors during this run. Here are the Lightning’s three stars of the month for February.
Third Star – Victor Hedman
Victor Hedman, Lightning captain and star defenseman, averaged nearly a point per game in February by tallying two goals and five assists for seven points. He had three multi-point games and had three points on the power play. To little surprise, he continues to produce at a high level at his position.
A standout night for him came when he picked up a goal and an assist against the Montreal Canadiens while also blocking six shots on Feb. 9.
Hedman’s 47 points on the season are the seventh-best among defensemen heading into March. He’s far from being in the Norris Trophy discussions like he used to perennially be, but each month he continues to show he has plenty left to give for his team.
Second Star – Brandon Hagel
This month, no one did it better offensively than Brandon Hagel. He finished with seven goals and six assists for 13 points in eight games. He had four multi-point games, including three in a row. His standout night came against the Detroit Red Wings on Feb. 8. He had two goals and two assists for four points – his third game with at least four points this season.
Heading into March, he’s just one goal away from tying his career high for goals (30) and is eight points away from matching his career high in points (75) from last season. At his current pace, he would finish with 41 goals and 53 assists for 94 points.
First Star – Andrei Vasilevskiy
Andrei Vasilevskiy just keeps finding ways to outdo himself. Short month or not, it was an unreal month for the 2021 Conn Smythe winner. He was between the pipes for all eight games and finished with a .940 save percentage (SV%). Like in January, he capped off his month with a shutout – making 28 saves against the Calgary Flames on Feb. 27.
He now has the fifth-best wins above expected in the NHL (19.2). Among goalies who have played at least 30 games, only one has a better save percentage (Connor Hellebuyck – .926 SV%). At some point, he’s due to re-enter the conversation to be a Vezina Trophy finalist. It would take Hellebuyck spiraling out to win the award at this point, but the discussion of being a finalist is very real.
Honorable Mentions
Nikita Kucherov made a strong case to be one of the three stars despite falling short. He finished with four goals and seven assists for 11 points in seven games played. He missed the win over the Montreal Canadiens on Feb. 9 due to an upper-body injury. He came back following the time off and played his normal self to finish off the month.
Jake Guentzel finished with two goals and four assists for six points on the month for the Lightning. However, he gets a special shout-out for his performance in the 4 Nations Face-Off. He finished with three goals and an assist for four points. He was tied for second in goals and tied for third in points. Since it wasn’t with the Lightning, it would be cheating to give him one of the three stars, but an honorable mention can be justified.
The Lightning get their March schedule going when they head to Washington to take on the Capitals on March 1. It’ll be the first chance for everyone to make a good first impression for the next round of the three stars.
