TAMPA, Fla. — At the end of the 2021 Stanley Cup title run, Tampa Bay Lightning head coach Jon Cooper made it clear that the group would not be intact like it was the previous year going forward.
The team did keep hold of Ondrej Palat who has been stellar in his time on the ice this season.
It's not often any player can have 12 points over their last nine games and still be under the radar, but, somehow, Palat is as he returns from injury to the Lightning lineup.
In just 38 games this season the Lightning forward has 30 points. That nearly puts him on pace with his 2014-2015 season where he had a career-best 63 points.
This season has been special for Palat, he tallied his 400th career point.
"Never even thought about, you know, getting this milestone. So I'm very happy," Palat said of that moment.
He has been a quiet hero throughout the Lightning's supreme run of success over the last five years.
"One of the gems of, you know, like in the history of Lightning," Cooper said of Palat.
Hard to put it any better than that.
