Lightning Strikes | The upswing we needed to see

Plus: Manon Rheaume still inspiring

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View on the web Go to our home page Subscribe to the Times Friday, March 31, 2023 Forward this to a friend Subscribe to more newsletters [LUIS SANTANA | Times] Are the old Bolts finally back? During this up-and-down Lightning season, I can remember captain Steven Stamkos sitting at his stall following a recent loss and reminding everyone listening that things can change quickly in hockey.   And in the past week it has for the Lightning. Last Thursday, they were angry and embarrassed following a five-goal loss in Ottawa. A team meeting the following day in Boston set the tone. There had been enough talking about what they needed to do to right the ship. It was time to put it into action.    Despite a one-goal loss in Boston Saturday, they took a major step forward. The 4-0 win in Carolina Tuesday night continued the upswing. And following Thursday night's 5-1 home victory over the Caps, the Lightning are getting back to the kind of hockey that wins games in the postseason.    It's just in time — with six games left until the playoffs start in 2-1/2 weeks.   The root of the resurgence is playing defense. The Lightning have allowed just three total goals in the last three games against two top teams in the Eastern Conference and another that's just going to miss the postseason. Combine that with the energy they're playing with from a renewed sense of physicality, and the Lightning are playing exactly the way they want to this time of the season.   “That’s a big point,” said center Anthony Cirelli. “We want to be a hard team to play against, and you want to limit teams’ chances, limit goals, especially 5-on-5. “That’s a big thing in the playoffs, limiting goals and limiting chances. The last three games have been great, but we’ve just got to keep on building and keep on getting better.”   The Lightning can clinch a postseason spot outright and all but seal a first-round date with Toronto with a win Saturday against the Islanders, another playoff-bound team that plays a heavy game built for the postseason. It's another opportunity for a step forward. The Islanders allow just 2.66 goals a game, the fourth-best mark in the league. They've allowed two goals or fewer in five of their last six games.  [MARI FAELLO | Times] Thirty years later, Manon Rheaume still an inspiration OK, time for a personal story. When I was a kid, I used to write letters to my favorite athletes and ask them for their autograph. I would enclose a card for them to sign and a self-addressed stamped envelope.   I still have my binder of the signatures I collected, from Nolan Ryan to Larry Bird to Mario Lemieux. The daily trip to the mailbox was a highlight of my day, and as the son of a letter carrier, my 12-year-old self thought I was doing my part to keep the business going. After my interview with former Lightning goaltender Manon Rheaume earlier this month, I shared with her that inspired by her story as the first woman to play in any of the four North American professional sports leagues, I wrote her a letter asking for her autograph. She sent my card back signed in blue Sharpie.    "You're gonna think this is crazy, but I still may have your letter," Rheaume told me.   Rheaume said that when she played in Atlanta in 1992-93, her mother was with her and she would open up her fan mail and put the letters in binders for her to read. Rheaume still goes through the binders when she returns home to Quebec and shared them with her kids as they were growing up.   "There were so many that at the time I couldn't read everything, but over the years I have and now to go back and look back at them all," she said.   Rheaume said at first she didn't know why people would be sending her letters. But to this day she still gets fan mail. When she ran the Little Caesars youth hockey program in Detroit, the Red Wings would forward her mail. Now as a prospect advisor with the Kings, she said the team gives her a box of fan mail every other month.   "When I was in Tampa, I got to the table and the lady (in front) said, 'I have fan mail for you.' I was like, 'What's fan mail?' with my broken English. 'Oh, it's people writing letters.' I was like, 'Why? Why would they do that? 'And then I realized what it was. I was young and I totally didn't get what I was about to do."   For more on Rheaume looking back on her history-making debut with the Lightning in 1992, how she's still pioneering opportunities for women in hockey, her homage to Phil Esposito during this month's Lightning Hall of Fame induction and more, check out my Q&A.  [KARL D. DEBLAKER | AP] In case you missed it ... • A reminder in Carolina: Protect Andrei Vasilevskiy and he'll bring you home   • Can the Lightning build on Bruins effort against Carolina?   • Lightning want to keep bringing the fight    • What we learned from the Lightning's loss in Boston Gain unlimited access to Lightning, Buccaneers and Rays coverage for about $1 a week! Subscribe now Remaining regular-season games  Saturday: Lightning vs. Islanders, 7 p.m., Bally Sports Sun, Bally Sports Florida   Wednesday: Lightning at Rangers, 7:30 p.m., TNT   Thursday: Lightning at Islanders, 7:30 p.m., Bally Sports Sun    April 8: Lightning at Ottawa, 7 p.m., Bally Sports Sun   April 11: Lightning vs. Maple Leafs, 7 p.m., ESPN   April 13: Lightning vs. Red Wings, 7 p.m., Bally Sports Sun Have a burning question about the Lightning this season? I want to hear about it. Email me what's on your mind, and I may address it in a future newsletter. Be sure to include your name and city in your message. Contact Eduardo A. Encina at eencina@tampabay.com. Follow @EddieInTheYard. Did someone forward this to you? Get Lightning Strikes in your own inbox next time. It's free to subscribe. Sign up here. 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