Palat, Bogosian, Coleman making presence felt for Lightning in playoffs

NHL.com goes Behind the Numbers to identify analytical trends during the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Today, a look at the Tampa Bay Lightning's top statistical postseason performers.

The Lightning, who have advanced to the Eastern Conference Final and will face either the New York Islanders or Philadelphia Flyers, have reached this point in the postseason without forward Steven Stamkos. Tampa Bay's captain has not played since Feb. 25 and had core muscle surgery March 2.
Stamkos finished second behind forward Nikita Kucherov (85 points) for the Lightning lead in scoring during the regular season with 66 points (29 goals, 37 assists) in 57 games, but Tampa Bay is one of the best statistical teams in the playoffs. The Lightning rank second in SAT (plus-168) behind the Vegas Golden Knights (plus-230), fourth in goals against per game (2.31) and sixth in goals for (39) in 13 games.
Here are three under-the-radar skaters who have contributed to those well-rounded statistics:

Zach Bogosian

The defenseman has been a key contributor in the first postseason of his 12-year NHL career, with four assists and a plus-94 SAT in 12 games, tied with Victor Hedman for the Tampa Bay lead at the position. That's after Bogosian had a minus-39 SAT in 19 regular-season games with the Buffalo Sabres. Signed to a one-year contract by the Lightning on Feb. 24 after his contract with the Sabres was terminated two days earlier, Bogosian's average 5-on-5 time on ice per game is 17:26 in the playoffs, up from 13:47 in eight regular-season games with Tampa Bay. He ranks fifth among Lightning players in the postseason behind defensemen Ryan McDonagh (21:12), Hedman (20:01), Mikhail Sergachev (17:55) and Erik Cernak (17:37). The big jump in SAT, a puck possession metric, suggests Bogosian is helping to drive team offense by way of shot attempts when he's on the ice. He is tied with Sergachev for second among Tampa Bay defensemen in postseason shots (26) and has been skating with Hedman on the top pair, proving his reliability at even strength.

Ondrej Palat

The forward leads the Lightning with a plus-121 SAT in 13 postseason games skating mostly as the left wing on the top line with center Brayden Point and Kucherov. Palat leads Tampa Bay forwards in 5-on-5 time on ice per game (17:21), a significant increase from his average of 13:15 during the regular season. He has scored nine points (five goals, four assists) in the postseason and could improve those numbers if his shooting percentage (11.6 percent) reverts closer to his NHL playoffs career average of 16.1 percent. Palat's contributions have been key for the Lightning with Stamkos unfit to play thus far.

Blake Coleman

The center has a plus-71 SAT in 13 postseason games, averaging 15:15 of 5-on-5 time on ice per game. Coleman had a minus-12 SAT in 57 regular-season games with the New Jersey Devils before being acquired by the Lightning in a trade on Feb. 16. He has scored seven points (three goals, four assists) skating on the third line with forwards Barclay Goodrow and Yanni Gourde. He's averaging 1:59 per game of shorthanded time on ice per game during the postseason; Tampa Bay has a penalty-kill percentage of 81.3 percent (12th in the NHL), almost identical to its regular-season average (81.4 percent), which tied for 13th with the Colorado Avalanche. The Lightning were tied with the Toronto Maple Leafs for the NHL lead in goals prior to the 2020 NHL Trade Deadline on Feb. 24, which led to questions about acquiring Coleman, but the statistics show his contributions are significantly helping Tampa Bay in 5-on-5 play and penalty-kill situations.