The Tampa Bay Lightning might actually be the team 'you do not want to play'

They may not look as dominant as they did a couple of years ago but they are starting to put it together at the right time of year.

Every year. Every league. Every sport. When the playoffs start to get closer there is always that one team at the bottom of the playoff field that is playing reasonably well, getting hot at the right time, and is preparing to go into the postseason declared as “the team you do not want to play.”

It always happens. There is always one. Sometimes that team actually does justify that narrative and goes on a crazy run through the playoffs. But a lot of times it usually ends up getting rocked and we all forget about them being the team you did not want to play.

But I do think there is a team in the NHL this season that could be more of the former than the latter.

It is the Tampa Bay Lightning.

It is admittedly a very weird thing to say about a team that is one year removed from its third-straight trip to the Stanley Cup Final and two years removed from winning back-to-back Stanley Cups. We are used to them winning, and winning big. Since the start of the 2014-15 playoffs they have won 86 playoff games, which is 32 more than any other team in the league since then. The gap between them and the second-leading playoff win team in that stretch (the Vegas Golden Knights) is larger than the playoff win total of 20 NHL franchises during that stretch.

Of course you do not want to play them! They always win here!

But this year’s version of the Lightning has not seemed quite as dominant from the very start. The expectations around them have also been significantly lowered and they just do not seem to have the same juice as they did in recent years. They are a little older, they have lost some pieces the past couple of years, they have had some injuries and none of the statistical models really seemed to like them at the start of the year.

They were not even a lock to make the playoffs around the halfway point.

Well, that is not the case anymore.

They have been one of the hottest teams in the league over the past two months, seem pretty locked in to the first Wild Card spot in the Eastern Conference and are starting to play like a team that could ruin a few playoff dreams for other teams.

Let’s talk about it.