Championship window hasn't closed on the talented Tampa Bay Lightning

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TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — When a boat parade is the standard for an organization, anything less than hoisting the Stanley Cup is a disappointment.

The Tampa Bay Lightning haven’t come close to those lofty expectations since falling two wins shy of a threepeat in 2022. They’ve been eliminated in the first round of the playoffs three consecutive years, the last two by the eventual champion Florida Panthers.

“You kinda use that as motivation throughout the whole summer,” veteran defenseman Ryan McDonagh said. “You’re angry that your season was cut short. We didn’t accomplish our goal so you use that as motivation all summer to be as prepared as you can be and ready for a good start to the season and carry that through. They knocked us out and went on and finished the job and that’s what we’re trying to do and get the job done.”

The Lightning didn’t make any splashy moves in the offseason after acquiring forward Oliver Bjorkstrand and center Yanni Gourde at the trade deadline last season. Instead, they kept their core together, added depth players like forward Pontus Holmberg and bring back one of the most balanced lineups in the NHL.

Is their window to win another Cup closing? Not yet. It’s still wide open with this group.

“At the end of last season, goals against, goals for, power play, (penalty kill), goal differential, 5-on-5 play, we checked a lot of boxes,” general manager Julien BriseBois said. “We still went out and tried to do even better, tried to improve the roster at the deadline, tried to improve the roster this offseason. So you’re always looking to improve your roster. I think what’s exciting for us now is some of that growth might be internal. It might be organic. We have some young players that are going to be pushing to play a bigger role, I think, and it’ll be exciting to see if they’re able to do that and how quickly they’ll be able to do that.”

Nikita Kucherov, Brayden Point and Jake Guentzel are an elite top line. They lead an offense that averaged a league-best 3.6 goals per game.

Kucherov has won consecutive scoring titles and is aiming to become just the seventh player in NHL history to do it three years in a row. The 31-year-old Russian forward enters the season just six points away from 1,000 for his career.

He’s more focused on improving the power play after a dismal 2-for-18 showing in the five-game series against the Panthers, who have turned into a bitter rival. In the regular season, the Lightning had the fifth-best power play with a 25.9% success rate.

“I really took it personal,” Kucherov said of the poor performance in the playoffs. “That’s something that you hate to see and you’re just hungry to go on the ice and work on things. You go out there and you work and hopefully find solutions.”

The defense gave up the fourth-fewest goals at 2.6 per game. Andrei Vasilevskiy is one of the top netminders in the league and finished second for the Vezina Trophy. His 2.18 goals-against average last season was a career-best for the three-time All-Star and 2018-19 Vezina winner.

“We proved last year, especially in the regular season, how good we are,” captain Victor Hedman said. “Getting bounced in the first round is not good enough, not up to our standard but I’m super excited about the team we have, the depth we have, the young guys we have.”

Tampa Bay has scoring beyond the top line. Forward Brandon Hagel, who was acquired from Chicago in March 2022 for two first-round picks and two players, scored 35 goals and had 90 points last season. He also spent time working out with Kucherov in the offseason.

Bjorkstrand and Gourde anchor the third line. Bjorkstrand has scored 20 goals is six of the last seven seasons. He’s a key producer on the power play and has a powerful right-handed shot the team was missing without Steven Stamkos last season. Gourde is a three-time 20-goal scorer.

The Lightning have reached the playoffs in 11 of 12 seasons under coach Jon Cooper, including eight straight years. They play in a difficult Atlantic Division that includes the Panthers and Toronto Maple Leafs.

Florida finished third last season, didn’t have home-ice advantage against Tampa Bay and went on to win the Cup for the second straight season. The Lightning know that getting into the tournament is only the first step. The goal is to win 16 games in the postseason.

“There’s no reason to not have a ton of confidence and a ton of belief in this group,” McDonagh said.

Now, they just have to finish the job.

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