TAMPA — For as much as captain Steven Stamkos jokes he's a playmaker now, let's not forget one thing:
The superstar still has one heck of a shot.
The Red Wings knew this, of course, yet there was Stamkos in Thursday night's 3-2 win, wide open in his trademark power-play home, the left circle. For years he has been the Lightning's No. 1 option with the man advantage, opponents doing all they can to take him out.
But with Nikita Kucherov, the hottest player in the league, in the opposite circle, Detroit had to pick its poison.