Sunday, 4 a.m.
He is older now. He has been injured. A great part of his game has been his transition from scorer to spokesman.
But once the puck is on the stick of Steven Stamkos, some marvelous things can occur.
Take Saturday night, when Stamkos powered the winning goal into the net with 15 seconds to play in overtime, leading the Tampa Bay Lighting to a 2-1 overtime victory over the Washington Capitals.
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It was the ninth winning goal Stamkos has scored in overtime. He is one behind Martin St. Louis for the all-time franchise lead.
Stamkos' goal, the 442nd of his career, lifted the Lightning in a game in which they finally looked like a Stanley Cup champion. Stamkos had an assist on the tying goal by Mikhail Sergachev early in the third period.
Alex Ovechkin scored the Capitals goal, and 14 seconds later, he seemed to have another one. But replay showed that Andre Vasilevskiy stopped the puck just before it completely went over the line.
The Bolts played the final nine minutes without Nikita Kucherov. Jan Rutta also missed significant time in the game.
“We pretty much played with five defensemen," Cooper said. "Mac (Ryan McDonagh) was cut in the eye. It was a pretty gutty effort by that D-core. Let’s not hit any panic buttons yet. Let’s see what the evaluations are when we get back."
The Bolts are at home on Tuesday night against Florida.