Steven Stamkos Delivers Superstar Performance to Give Lightning Key Game 5 Win

NEW YORK — Five minutes and 30 seconds had elapsed in Anton Stralman’s postgame interview at his locker. He answered question after question about Tampa Bay's 2-0 victory in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Final that pushed the Lightning to a 3-2 series lead, one win from a trip to the Stanley Cup Final.

Yet at no point during those five minutes and change did the Lightning defenseman answer a question about captain Steven Stamkos.

It wasn’t particularly odd, as goaltender Ben Bishop had a 26-save shutout after allowing 10 goals in his previous two games and the Lightning's penalty kill squashed all four Rangers power plays on Sunday.

There's also the whole thing about being on the brink of a Stanley Cup Final berth that people want to talk about.

But hello? Stamkos spent most of the first two rounds removing daggers from his back because he wasn’t scoring, yet on Sunday night at Madison Square Garden, he had a beauty of an assist and tapped home a power-play goal.

Doesn’t anyone want to talk about how Stamkos has six goals in seven games and four goals in his past four games of this series?

He also has seven goals in 10 games, five of which have come since head coach Jon Cooper moved him from center to the right wing during the second round.

Is this just the plight of an elite goal scorer? They hate when you’re not scoring and don’t care when you are?

“I think it's funny how it works, because the spotlight is on you so often that everybody just expects greatness all the time,” Cooper said. “To become great, you do fail sometimes. And he's great. But you don't get there by just success. It's the guys that fight through failure that rise to the top. And Stammer, not that he's failed, but he gets criticized when he doesn't score a goal.

“I look at what the other team's trying to do too. It's not like they're putting their eighth-pairing defensemen against Stammer. He gets the top guys. As this playoff has gone on, Stammer just continues to rise to the occasion.”

It’s always important for superstars to produce more than just great puck-possession numbers in the postseason. The sample sizes are smaller and the stakes are higher, which can make the shot attempts less important and the pressure to deliver even greater.

Elite talents can play really well without scoring, but that’s almost always a recipe for a team getting bounced from the postseason.

It’s what makes Stamkos finding his game—and confidence—so important for the Lightning right now.

The line of Ondrej Palat, Tyler Johnson and Nikita Kucherov has annihilated the competition since the postseason began, combining for 25 goals in 18 games. It’s a luxury that has afforded Stamkos the time to become himself against the Rangers.

Beyond that, there is very little support for Stamkos.

The last time the Lightning received a goal from a bottom-six forward was in Game 2 against Montreal. And with the Johnson line getting shut out in the past two games, it’s been on Stamkos’ line—with Alex Killorn on left wing and Valtteri Filppula in the middle—to produce the offense.

Yeah, Bishop and the defense were masterful in Game 5. But without Stamkos’ deft pass to set up Filppula and his positioning on what was an admittedly easy power-play goal, Game 5 is probably still taking place as you read this.

“I'm definitely more confident now than I was the first eight games,” Stamkos said. “But I think for me, it was a great adversity test. Our team was winning, which was great. The depth has prevailed all season for our team. But I knew I was playing the right way. When you play the right way, things are going to start going your way.

“We switched some things up, moved to the wing, tried to free some things up. The power play has gotten a lot better too, where you get a couple goals. You get a couple points there, now you're feeling a little better.

“So everything has kind of accumulated to this point right now. But when you have confidence, you try to keep it as long as you can, because it is tough to get at this time of the year.”

Eventually, Stralman was asked about Stamkos.

“He’s been tremendous for us,” he said. “I know he got a lot of heat there when he didn’t score, but I thought he still did his job. It’s good for him and good for us that the pucks are going in for him now, even though I think I wouldn’t miss that one.”

Tough crowd—even in the locker room sometimes.

But if the playoffs have been any indication, the joking criticism won’t bother Stamkos. Heck, it will probably fuel him in Game 6.

That’s good, because if the Lightning are to avoid a Game 7 in New York, they’ll probably need Stamkos to have another big game on Tuesday night.

All statistics via NHL.com.

Dave Lozo covers the NHL for Bleacher Report. You can follow him on Twitter @DaveLozo.