Lightning break record for most goals scored in a season

Lost in the shuffle of Thursday's crazy, back-and-forth contest in Brooklyn where the Tampa Bay Lightning grabbed leads of 4-1 and 7-3 against the New York Islanders and then held on for dear life in the third period for a 7-6 victory, a game where head coach Jon Cooper tied John Tortorella for most wins in Lightning coaching history and Andrei Vasilevskiy matched Nikolai Khabibulin's mark for second-most goalie wins for the franchise all-time, the Bolts registered their 265th goal of the season when J.T. Miller tapped in Nikita Kucherov's picture-perfect pass at the back post on a power play, a marker that would eventually prove to be the game-winner.

The Lightning set a franchise record for most goals in a season during their win at Barclays, shattering the old mark of 262 set during the 2014-15 Stanley Cup Final season.
That the Bolts still have eight games remaining in the regular season speaks to just how potent this team is offensively.
The Lightning are getting expected contributions from all-world scorers like Nikita Kucherov and Steven Stamkos, who have contributed 37 and 27 goals, respectively, of the Bolts' 265 total goals. Brayden Point has picked up where he left off during last year's sensational rookie campaign and has chipped in 28 goals, second most on the Bolts.

But it's the depth of scoring that's allowed this Lightning team to emerge as the most dangerous one offensively the franchise has ever put out on the ice.
"I think the big thing is we have four lines that can really contribute, so that's obviously a big advantage for us," said Tyler Johnson, who has 21 goals of his own, third most for a season in his career, and netted a first-period marker in the win over the Islanders. "But also with our system, it's an attacking system that allows us to play in the offensive zone and create some chances that way. We have a lot of guys that have worked hard, and we've been rewarded with some goals."
Including Vladislav Namestnikov, who scored 20 goals for the Lightning before being traded to the New York Rangers but not including J.T. Miller, who has 20 goals on the season, seven of them coming with Tampa Bay, the Bolts have nine players with at least 10 goals in 2017-18. Defenseman Mikhail Sergachev is knocking on the door with nine goals after ending a 39-game goal drought on Thursday. Ondrej Palat, who missed 26 games with lower-body injury, is right there too with eight.
"Besides the big names the team has, there's a lot of secondary scoring, guys have really stepped up this year," Miller said. "I think this is a dangerous team when we have the puck. Not necessarily the skill play every time, the cross-ice one-timer, but since I've been here, from line one to four, we've been doing it the hard way, getting in on the forecheck, creating turnovers and making them pay when it's not the pretty set up."

Miller is as good a player as any to theorize why the Lightning are so dangerous offensively. He got an outside perspective earlier this season as a member of the Rangers and now can see first-hand just why the Lightning are able to record goals in record numbers. He scored 13 goals in 63 games with the Rangers but has over half that total (7) with the Lightning in just 11 games. He registered his first career hat trick in game No. 7 with Tampa Bay and netted two more goals in Thursday's win over the Islanders for the only two times he's put up multiple goals this season.
Miller said this Lightning squad reminds him of the Rangers Presidents' Trophy-winning team he played for as a youngster in 2014-15, a team that advanced all the way to the Eastern Conference Final before being upended by Tampa Bay in seven games, that same Tampa Bay team that held the franchise record for goals.
Until this season.
"(The Rangers) scored a lot of goals that year, fast team, played well defensively and obviously had a good run," Miller said. "So I'm looking forward to the potential we can have here."
Tampa Bay could become the first NHL team to score 300 goals in a season since the 2009-10 Washington Capitals put up 313. The Lightning would have to average just over four goals a game over their last eight regular season games to get there. They already average a NHL-best 3.58 goals per game, so it's not outside the realm of possibility.
"I think when we're playing our best, all four lines are rolling and it's been a huge thing for us throughout this season," said rookie Yanni Gourde, who has netted 24 goals of his own, tying Johnson for most goals in a rookie season in franchise history. "Obviously, our top line has been amazing. Lots of depth on this offense, but defense and Vasy, he's been amazing. I think it's just a big team effort all season long. That's what made us have success this year."