TAMPA, Fla. – The Lightning came out like gangbusters Monday evening against Ottawa. They had several good scoring chances before the game was four minutes old, though the duration had a lot be desired in what was a 4-2 setback.
One of the few players whose game remained up-tempo throughout the loss was Mitchell Chaffee. With the Bolts trailing 3-0, the 26-year-old rookie right wing put his team on the board late in the second period. He logged a career-high 14:37 of ice time and was second on the team with five hits while playing on a line with Luke Glendening and Alex Barre-Boulet.
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Chaffee, who the Lightning signed in July to a one-year, two-way deal, played only 10 games last season with the Minnesota Wild’s AHL affiliate in Iowa due to a torn right ACL. His only NHL action before this season was a pair of games with the Wild in 2021-22.
The Michigan native was summoned from Syracuse of the AHL in December and played one game before being sent back. He was called up again January 24 when Tanner Jeannot was sidelined and has since played all nine games of the Lightning’s games while chipping in a pair of goals and an assist.
“I think this coaching staff has a lot of trust in me and I think I have kind of built that,” the UMass product said following Monday’s game. “I am just going to keep trying to play my game and take advantage of the ice time that (coach Jon Cooper is) giving me.”
Ice time will not be a problem if Chaffee continues to play the way he has.
“He’s a worker,” said Cooper. “He does what he is asked and he doesn’t try to come outside of his game plan and doesn’t try to manufacture things that are not there. He wins his puck battles and he is always in the right spots. He has earned his ice time.”
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Kucherov Maintains Points Lead
Nikita Kucherov has certainly spread it around this season. He has 47 points in 27 home games and 47 points in 29 games away from Amalie. He heads into Thursday night’s match against visiting Washington with 94 points, two ahead of Colorado’s Nathan MacKinnon. Both are idle Wednesday.
The Lightning and Avalanche both have 25 games remaining. Kucherov missed a November 11 game against Carolina due to illness and has played one less game than MacKinnon.
Thanks to piling up 12 points (all assists) in his last four games, including six assists against Detroit on February 13, Edmonton’s Connor McDavid has been coming on strong. He has 83 points and his Oilers have played five less games than the Lightning and Avalanche. McDavid missed two games in late October due to injury. His 1.66 points per game are second to Kucherov’s 1.68.
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