![]() “You never know when you’ll ever get this chance again,” Stamkos said. Their oldest, Carter, almost 3, will be attending the All-Star Game, which makes this event even more special to Stamkos. ![]() He became a father for the second time a few months ago when his wife, Sandra, gave birth to another son, Chase. Stamkos, having overcome several serious injuries in his career, is benefiting from the perfect blend of health and confidence. He’s been more of a play-driver for Tampa Bay than he was in the past two playoff runs Stamkos ranked ninth in five-on-five ice time among forwards in the latest one. His back-to-back championship team is rolling, even despite major injuries, with Stamkos as a major reason why. He’s off to a hot start, with a team-leading 20 goals and 52 points, which rank among the league’s best. Stamkos heads to the NHL All-Star Game this weekend in Las Vegas in as good of a place as he’s been in a long time. “You always dream about your kid doing that. “It was such thrill,” Chris Stamkos said. They were only on the ice for a few minutes, but it’s a snapshot that will forever remain in family lore. They took some videos and photos, with Chris and Lesley posing like they were taking a faceoff, with a beaming Stamkos in between, flashing two fingers. So Stamkos, 31, wearing a championship T-shirt, shorts and flip flops, gave his father an assist as they approached mid-ice. “I didn’t want to fall with the Cup and break it.” “There was so much confetti on the ice,” Chris Stamkos said. The elder Stamkos borrowed Kucherov’s skates - “They fit perfectly” - and took a brief twirl. So, this time, Chris Stamkos was going to soak it in with his son. They didn’t see Stamkos, much less touch the Cup, for several months, due to COVID-19 protocol. Stamkos’ parents, Chris and Lesley, weren’t able to attend the previous playoff run in the Canadian bubble, and instead watched from the backyard of their Toronto-area home. They will have to accomplish that feat without Stamkos, who has been a pillar of their franchise for more than a decade.But at approximately 3:30 a.m, captain Steven Stamkos had to make one more trip on the ice with hockey’s holy grail. If the Lightning can win either Game 6 on Monday night in Edmonton, Alberta, or a potential Game 7 on Wednesday, they would become the first team in the expansion era to win the Stanley Cup after being swept out of the first round the previous season. They also tied a record with 62 regular-season wins last season, but the bottom-seeded Columbus Blue Jackets stunned them with a sweep in the first round. The Lightning have been to five conference finals and two Stanley Cup finals in the past 10 seasons. They had won the Stanley Cup in 2004, but then followed up with a pair of first-round exits and three nonplayoff seasons, including a pair of last-place finishes in their division. The selection of Stamkos in 2008 and Hedman second over all in 2009 catapulted the Lightning back to the top of the league. Stamkos is the Lightning’s longest tenured player, and one of just two players remaining from their 2011 conference finals team. ![]() “There’s been a lot of behind-the-scenes things that I’ll be glad to share with you guys after the season,” Stamkos said in a news conference after Game 3. His condition has been shrouded in familiar, vague terms like “lower-body injury,” general ones like “an issue,” and also with the new distinctions for 2020, “unfit to play” and “unable to compete.” Because Stamkos was initially expected to be out for six to eight weeks, the suspension of play between March 12 and late July because of the coronavirus pandemic would have appeared to have opened the door for a return to the ice.īut in July Stamkos was sidelined anew. ![]() 25, and he had surgery because of a core muscle injury on March 2. Kucherov, Point and the Lightning’s top defenseman, Victor Hedman, are among the favorites for the postseason’s most valuable player award, the Conn Smythe Trophy.īefore Game 3, Stamkos had last played on Feb. Only Gretzky and Mario Lemieux have accumulated more helpers in a single postseason. Kucherov’s 26 assists this postseason are five shy of Wayne Gretzky’s playoff record. Kucherov and his linemate Brayden Point, a center, each have seven points in the series. finals to score the Knicks’ first two field goals with a torn thigh muscle - then Nikita Kucherov has played the role of Walt Frazier, the star of that game. If Stamkos had something of a Willis Reed moment - when Reed hobbled down the tunnel for Game 7 of the 1970 N.B.A.
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