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As the off-season prepares to meet its end, let’s take one final look back at the 2015-16 season had by Tampa Bay Lightning forward Ondrej Palat.
Last season was a pretty good season for the Tampa Bay Lightning. While they may have come up a little short at the end of the day, it’s not every day a team gets to Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Final, let alone making it to the Eastern Conference Final two years in a row.
As you can imagine, achieving a feat like this one is no easy task. Competing at the highest level in the National Hockey League takes not only skill but well-honed chemistry. There is one line in particular in the Tampa Bay Lightning’s arsenal that is the epitome of chemistry. That line would be the Triplets.
Before we turn our eyes to the 2016-17 season and leave the events of 2015-16 to a fond yet a distant memory, let’s take one final look at the 2015-16 season had by one of the aforementioned Triplets, Lightning left wing Ondrej Palat.
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Ondrej Palat did not have one of the record-breaking seasons we have become accustomed to. Unfortunately, this has a lot to do with the amount of time he was forced to spend away from the ice due to a Lower Body Injury that occurred on Saturday, November 7, 2015 as the Tampa Bay Lightning took on the Minnesota Wild.
It wasn’t until December 10th, a full month later when Palat was able to make his return to the ice. That night, the Lightning would do battle with the Ottawa Senators, a battle the Lightning would win 4-1.
Despite his time away from the ice due to injury, Palat was able to play in a total of 62 games for the Tampa Bay Lightning over the course of the regular season. In that amount of time, he was able to score 16 goals and 24 assists for a total of 40 points to accompany his plus-10 rating.
These numbers place Palat in a tie with Lightning left wing Alex Killorn for fourth place on the team in overall points. Considering the fact that Killorn had a good 19 games on Palat, we’d say Pally had a pretty successful regular season.
The 25-year-old Czech forward’s contributions didn’t end along with the regular season. Pally played in all 17 postseason games with the Tampa Bay Lightning. In that amount of time, he was able to score four goals and six assists for a total of 10 points.
Much like the regular season, Palat found himself once again neck and neck with Alex Killorn. Falling just three points behind Killer, Palat found himself in sixth place in overall points for the postseason.
Things are going to get interesting once the 2016-17 season comes to a close. Two-thirds of the Triplets will be in need of new contracts before the 2017-18 season begins. One of those two players is Ondrej Palat. The other is his partner-in-crime Tyler Johnson.
If there is anything we here at Bolts By The Bay know for sure, it’s that we want to see the Triplets remain a cohesive unit for many seasons to come. Should the Tampa Bay Lightning be able to secure Nikita Kucherov to a new deal at the conclusion of World Cup of Hockey, it should be fairly easy to keep the remainder of the Triplets in play…at least we hope so.
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