Steven Stamkos: Tampa Bay Lightning Star Strengthens Hart Trophy Case vs. Bruins

Tampa Bay Lightning star Steven Stamkos tried all he could to defeat the Boston Bruins last night, but his two goals weren't enough to overcome the depth of the defending champs, who won 5-2.

Stamkos made another strong case to be the Hart Trophy-winner this season as MVP of the NHL, and when you examine his argument, it's a pretty convincing one.

Stamkos was the best player on the ice Tuesday night and could have easily won the game himself if his late-third period shot that hit the post instead found its way past Bruins goaltender Tim Thomas.

"He’s very good. There’s no doubt about that," said Thomas. "The first [goal] on me, he made a perfect shot. The second one, I didn’t actually see it until it hit [Dennis] Seidenberg’s body. Having said that, from there, even if I did see it the whole way, there’d still be a chance. He’s that good."

"... [Stamkos' second goal], his one-timer was a power-play goal and that’s his spot over there," said Bruins defenseman Zdeno Chara. "It’s hard to defend. We could find a way to defend that, but good players find that opening and he’s really good with that one-timer shot from that spot.

Stamkos' two goals on Tuesday night gave him 55 for the season, which is nine above Pittsburgh Penguins star forward Evgeni Malkin, who is second.

Stamkos' 90 points is second in the NHL behind Malkin's 99 because the Penguins forward has many more assists. However, Stamkos hasn't had talented players like James Neal to pass to all season.

The Lightning are tied for 11th in the Eastern Conference standings and haven't been mathematically eliminated from the playoffs just yet. But even though hopes of making another deep postseason run are nearly gone, Stamkos' level of play hasn't regressed at all.

Without Stamkos, the Lightning would be fighting for the first overall pick in the 2012 NHL Draft and a chance to select top prospect Nail Yakupov.

"We’re trying our best. That’s all you can ask," said Stamkos. "We made some mental mistakes, yeah, but I think when you look at what we have right now, everyone is giving it their all and there’s no quit on this team. We’re playing some pretty good hockey teams."

How does Stamkos compare to other leading Hart Trophy candidates? Let's look at what those players' teams would be like without them.

• Evgeni Malkin: The Penguins wouldn't be fighting for the No. 1 seed, but they would still be a playoff team with Malkin. Just look at last season.
• Henrik Lundqvist: The New York Rangers' star goaltender has been crucial to the team's success this season, but they still have enough talent to be a six-to-eight seed without him.
• Claude Giroux: The Flyers are still a playoff team without Giroux, especially given the team's immense offensive talent.

If Stamkos reaches 60 goals, he will be the first player to do so since Washington Capitals star Alexander Ovechkin during the 2008-09 season. Scoring 60 goals on a team with so much talent lost due to injury is quite remarkable.

We hear the term "carrying his team" so often in sports, but it's a perfect description of what Stamkos has done this season.

"Our top guys have been drained for a long time; it’s been like this for a month-and-a-half," said Lightning head coach Guy Boucher. "So, I mean you can’t ask St. Louis, Stamkos, Purcell and Malone, those four guys, to score every game, two, three four goals for us."

Stamkos has 11 goals this month in 13 games, and he had 11 goals in 14 games in February. Seven of his goals in March have come against teams currently in a playoff spot.

There is no question that he is the most valuable player to his team and no one else in the league has shown this much value throughout the season. No other player is more important to his team's ability to win games consistently than Stamkos.

The argument that a player needs to carry his team into the playoffs to win the Hart Trophy is absurd. The Lightning have had poor goaltending for most of the season yet they were never buried in the East. Stamkos led them back into playoff contention after the new year, but one player cannot do everything—especially late in the season.

Stamkos is the most deserving candidate for the Hart trophy, but he probably won't get it because the Lightning won't make the playoffs. 

That would be incredibly unfortunate and unfair to Stamkos.

All quotes obtained first-hand

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Nicholas Goss is a Boston Bruins Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report and was the organization's on-site reporter for the 2011 Stanley Cup Finals in Boston.