The Tampa Bay Lightning is atop the league standings right now, and it’s not even close. Their 72 points in 46 games played before tonight gives them an eight-point cushion on the next highest team (the Calgary Flames, that have 64 points in 47 games played). Their +56 goal differential leads the next best by 16.
For all talks about how starting goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy was having a statistically average season, the fact is that Tampa has depth at both forward and defense and a system that they’ve all bought into that covers that slight blemish.