Steve Stamkos Is Striking Lightning

Sophomore forward Steve Stamkos continues to show why he should be a serious candidate to make Team Canada for the upcoming 2010 winter Olympics. After enduring some growing pains as a rookie this former 2008 first overall Tampa Bay Lightning pick has blossomed this season and continues to get even better. On Sunday night this 19 year-old was the overtime hero as his 15^th goal of the season gave Tampa Bay a 4-3 road win against the Atlanta Thrashers. Even though the Lightning couldn’t hold a couple of third period leads Stamkos who is the team leader in goals had a positive perspective when talking about the game. “From a team perspective, I thought we played pretty solid and stuck to the game plan,” he said. “We got lots of shots on net.” Continuing his impressive play against the Thrashers was goalie Antero Niittymaki who had 28 saves on the night and is now 15-0-0 lifetime against the Thrashers. On the season Nittymaki has been a pleasant surprise as he improved his record to 6-1-3 with an eye popping .936 save percentage and a 2.02 GAA. Having lost their previous two games against the Carolina Hurricanes and Anaheim Ducks this was a huge two points for Tampa Bay who will be life and death to make the playoffs. Still the Lightning know that they might have gotten a bit lucky in blowing a couple of leads and still coming out with the win. “It’s just a matter of protecting the lead,” Stamkos said. “We can’t expect to do that and win overtime after giving up those two goals.”