The Tampa Bay Lightning are into the second half of their season and firmly positioned as the best team in the NHL. They lead in standings points and goal differential. They are one of the best teams in the league in 5v5 shot metrics. They have a dominant power play and a competent penalty kill.
For anyone involved with the team, this is an exciting time. But this isn’t the first time the team has looked this good through the halfway point. They did almost the same thing last year. But things changed in the second half of the season.