# 2011–12 Tampa Bay Lightning season

The 2011–12 Tampa Bay Lightning season was the franchise's 20th season in the National Hockey League (NHL). To commemorate their 20th anniversary, the Lightning had a brand new logo and jerseys beginning this season.
On April 7, 2012, during the last day of the NHL season, Tampa Bay Lightning forward Steve Stamkos scored his 60th goal in a 4–3 overtime victory against the Winnipeg Jets. This accomplishment made him the 20th player in NHL history to achieve the milestone of scoring 60 goals in a single season, and the first player to do so since Alexander Ovechkin in the 2007-08 season. In addition, Stamkos also holds the distinction of being the only NHL player to have scored 60 or more goals in a single NHL season during the 2010s, placing him among a distinguished group of NHL players who have achieved this rare feat in the salary cap era following the 2004–05 NHL lockout. Adding to his 60 goals, Stamkos recorded 37 assists for 97 points and played in all 82 games for the third consecutive season. Moreover, his 97 points ranked second in the NHL as the runner up for the Art Ross Trophy, 12 behind Evgeni Malkin of the Pittsburgh Penguins, who (along with New York Rangers goaltender Henrik Lundqvist) were named the NHL's three finalists for the Hart Memorial Trophy which was eventually awarded to Malkin. Stamkos was also named as a finalist for the Ted Lindsay Award for the second straight season (which also went to Malkin) and his 60 goals led to him being awarded his second Rocket Richard Trophy. Despite Stamkos' individual accomplishments, the Lightning struggled as a team, finishing the season eight points out of a spot for the 2012 playoffs and at tenth overall in the Eastern Conference.

## Off-season

Among the Lightning's offseason deals, they re-signed their first overall pick from 2008, Steven Stamkos, to a five-year contract. They also brought back goaltender Dwayne Roloson with a one-year contract, having acquired him in a trade during the previous season.
The team's home arena, the St. Pete Times Forum, underwent a $35 million renovation that saw additions that included a digital pipe organ and Tesla coils on either side of the main scoreboard that shoot lightning 25 feet.

## Regular season

The Lightning opened the season on the road against the Carolina Hurricanes on October 7. Their first home game was October 17 against the Florida Panthers.
In October, the Lightning earned 12 points after going 5–4–2, which put them in eighth place in the Eastern Conference, and third place in the Southeast Division. Steven Stamkos led the team in goals with six, while Marc-Andre Bergeron led the team in points with 12.
Victor Hedman, the second-overall pick in the 2009 NHL Entry Draft, was signed to a five-year contract extension worth $20 million.
As in October, the Lightning earned 12 points in November with a 6–7–0 record for the month, making their overall record 11–11–2. They remained in third place in their division, while falling to 11th in the Eastern Conference. Stamkos continued to lead the team in goals with 16, and also overtook the points lead with 26.
Martin St. Louis was injured during a morning practice on December 8. That night he was expected to play in his 500th consecutive game. St. Louis took a puck to the face from a backhanded shot attempt from a teammate. After being evaluated, St. Louis was reported to have suffered facial and nasal fractures, and was ruled to be out indefinitely. He would return to the ice on December 21, sporting a full metal cage attached his helmet.
The Lightning began December with only one win in six games, but rebounded to earn points in six of the last seven games of the month, giving them a 6–6–1 record in December. Their 17–17–3 record dropped them to 4th in the division and 12th in the conference. Stamkos ended the month with 43 points, and his 26 goals not only led the team, but led the entire league.
The Lightning concluded the regular season having allowed 278 goals (excluding three shootout goals), the most in the League. They also tied the Detroit Red Wings for the fewest shorthanded goals scored, with just two.

## Playoffs

The Lightning failed to qualify for the 2012 Stanley Cup playoffs.

## Standings
### Divisional standings

Southeast Division :
| Pos | Team v t e | GP | W | L | OTL | ROW | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
| 1 | y – Florida Panthers | 82 | 38 | 26 | 18 | 32 | 203 | 227 | −24 | 94 |
| 2 | x – Washington Capitals | 82 | 42 | 32 | 8 | 38 | 222 | 230 | −8 | 92 |
| 3 | Tampa Bay Lightning | 82 | 38 | 36 | 8 | 35 | 235 | 281 | −46 | 84 |
| 4 | Winnipeg Jets | 82 | 37 | 35 | 10 | 33 | 225 | 246 | −21 | 84 |
| 5 | Carolina Hurricanes | 82 | 33 | 33 | 16 | 32 | 213 | 243 | −30 | 82 |

### Conference standings

Eastern Conference :
| Pos | Div | Team v t e | GP | W | L | OTL | ROW | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
| 1 | AT | z – New York Rangers | 82 | 51 | 24 | 7 | 47 | 226 | 187 | +39 | 109 |
| 2 | NE | y – Boston Bruins | 82 | 49 | 29 | 4 | 40 | 269 | 202 | +67 | 102 |
| 3 | SE | y – Florida Panthers | 82 | 38 | 26 | 18 | 32 | 203 | 227 | −24 | 94 |
| 4 | AT | x – Pittsburgh Penguins | 82 | 51 | 25 | 6 | 42 | 282 | 221 | +61 | 108 |
| 5 | AT | x – Philadelphia Flyers | 82 | 47 | 26 | 9 | 43 | 264 | 232 | +32 | 103 |
| 6 | AT | x – New Jersey Devils | 82 | 48 | 28 | 6 | 36 | 228 | 209 | +19 | 102 |
| 7 | SE | x – Washington Capitals | 82 | 42 | 32 | 8 | 38 | 222 | 230 | −8 | 92 |
| 8 | NE | x – Ottawa Senators | 82 | 41 | 31 | 10 | 35 | 249 | 240 | +9 | 92 |
| 9 | NE | Buffalo Sabres | 82 | 39 | 32 | 11 | 32 | 218 | 230 | −12 | 89 |
| 10 | SE | Tampa Bay Lightning | 82 | 38 | 36 | 8 | 35 | 235 | 281 | −46 | 84 |
| 11 | SE | Winnipeg Jets | 82 | 37 | 35 | 10 | 33 | 225 | 246 | −21 | 84 |
| 12 | SE | Carolina Hurricanes | 82 | 33 | 33 | 16 | 32 | 213 | 243 | −30 | 82 |
| 13 | NE | Toronto Maple Leafs | 82 | 35 | 37 | 10 | 31 | 231 | 264 | −33 | 80 |
| 14 | AT | New York Islanders | 82 | 34 | 37 | 11 | 27 | 203 | 255 | −52 | 79 |
| 15 | NE | Montreal Canadiens | 82 | 31 | 35 | 16 | 26 | 212 | 226 | −14 | 78 |

## Schedule and results
### Pre-season

Schedule
  Win
  Loss
  Overtime/shootout loss :

### Regular season

2011–12 game log :
Schedule
  Win
  Loss
  Overtime/shootout loss :

## Player stats
### Skaters

Note: GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; +/− = Plus/minus; PIM = Penalty minutes
| Player | GP | G | A | Pts | +/− | PIM |
| Steven Stamkos | 82 | 60 | 37 | 97 | 7 | 66 |
| Martin St. Louis | 77 | 25 | 49 | 74 | −3 | 16 |
| Teddy Purcell | 81 | 24 | 41 | 65 | 9 | 16 |
| Vincent Lecavalier | 64 | 22 | 27 | 49 | -2 | 50 |
| Ryan Malone | 68 | 20 | 28 | 48 | −11 | 82 |
| Steve Downie$^‡$ | 55 | 12 | 16 | 28 | −15 | 121 |
| Marc-Andre Bergeron | 43 | 4 | 20 | 24 | 6 | 20 |
| Victor Hedman | 61 | 5 | 18 | 23 | −9 | 65 |
| Eric Brewer | 82 | 1 | 20 | 21 | −5 | 49 |
| Tom Pyatt | 74 | 12 | 7 | 19 | −19 | 8 |
| Dominic Moore$^‡$ | 56 | 4 | 15 | 19 | −10 | 48 |
| Matt Gilroy$^‡$ | 53 | 2 | 15 | 17 | 2 | 16 |
| Brett Clark | 82 | 2 | 13 | 15 | −26 | 20 |
| Nate Thompson | 68 | 9 | 6 | 15 | −23 | 21 |
| Brett Connolly | 68 | 4 | 11 | 15 | −9 | 30 |
| Bruno Gervais | 50 | 6 | 7 | 13 | −4 | 8 |
| Ryan Shannon | 45 | 4 | 8 | 12 | −11 | 10 |
| J. T. Wyman | 40 | 2 | 9 | 11 | 1 | 8 |
| Pavel Kubina$^‡$ | 52 | 3 | 8 | 11 | 1 | 59 |
| Brian Lee$^†$ | 20 | 0 | 8 | 8 | −6 | 8 |
| Tim Wallace$^†$ | 18 | 3 | 5 | 8 | 4 | 10 |
| Adam Hall | 57 | 2 | 5 | 7 | −11 | 17 |
| Trevor Smith | 16 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 2 | 4 |
| Dana Tyrell | 26 | 0 | 5 | 5 | −5 | 6 |
| Blair Jones$^‡$ | 22 | 2 | 2 | 4 | −3 | 10 |
| Brendan Mikkelson | 41 | 1 | 2 | 3 | −4 | 13 |
| Pierre-Cedric Labrie | 14 | 0 | 2 | 2 | -2 | 15 |
| Mike Angelidis | 6 | 1 | 0 | 1 | −1 | 5 |
| Keith Aulie$^†$ | 19 | 0 | 1 | 1 | −5 | 13 |
| J. T. Brown | 5 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 |
| Mike Commodore$^†$ | 13 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 17 |
| Brandon Segal | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | −2 | 4 |
| Evan Oberg | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| Mattias Ritola$^‡$ | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | −2 | 6 |

### Goaltenders

Note: GP = Games played; TOI = Time on ice (minutes); W = Wins; L = Losses; OT = Overtime losses; GA = Goals against; GAA= Goals against average; SA= Shots against; SV= Saves; Sv% = Save percentage; SO= Shutouts
| Player | GP | Min | W | L | OT | GA | GAA | SA | Sv% | SO | G | A | PIM |
| Mathieu Garon | 48 | 2484 | 23 | 16 | 5 | 118 | 2.85 | 1191 | .901 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| Dwayne Roloson | 40 | 2099 | 13 | 16 | 4 | 128 | 3.66 | 1126 | .886 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 6 |
| Dustin Tokarski | 5 | 244 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 14 | 3.44 | 116 | .879 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| Sebastien Caron | 3 | 135 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 7 | 3.11 | 7 | .877 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
$^†$Denotes player spent time with another team before joining Lightning. Stats reflect time with Lightning only. $^‡$Traded mid-season Bold/italics denotes franchise record

## Awards and records
### Awards

Regular season :
| Player | Award | Awarded |
| Steven Stamkos | NHL Second Star of the Month | December 2011 |
| Steven Stamkos | NHL First Star of the Week | January 2, 2012 |
| Teddy Purcell | NHL Second Star of the Week | February 27, 2012 |
| Steven Stamkos | NHL Third Star of the Month | February 2012 |
| Steven Stamkos | NHL Second Star of the Week | April 9, 2012 |

### Milestones

Regular season :
| Player | Milestone | Reached |
| Brett Clark | 600th career NHL game | October 7, 2011 |
| Brett Connolly | 1st career NHL game | October 7, 2011 |
| Ryan Malone | 300th career NHL point | October 7, 2011 |
| Martin St. Louis | 300th career NHL goal | October 8, 2011 |
| Brett Connolly | 1st career NHL assist 1st career NHL point | October 10, 2011 |
| Steve Downie | 200th career NHL game | October 10, 2011 |
| Nate Thompson | 200th career NHL game | October 10, 2011 |
| Ryan Malone | 500th career NHL game | October 22, 2011 |
| Vincent Lecavalier | 800th career NHL point | October 25, 2011 |
| Dominic Moore | 100th career NHL assist | October 25, 2011 |
| Teddy Purcell | 200th career NHL game | October 27, 2011 |
| Brett Connolly | 1st career NHL goal | November 1, 2011 |
| Steve Downie | 100th career NHL point | November 17, 2011 |
| Teddy Purcell | 100th career NHL point | December 3, 2011 |
| Martin St. Louis | 800th career NHL point | December 6, 2011 |
| Mathieu Garon | 300th career NHL game | December 29, 2011 |
| J. T. Wyman | 1st career NHL goal 1st career NHL assist 1st career NHL point | December 29, 2011 |
| Martin St. Louis | 500th career NHL assist | December 31, 2011 |
| Pierre-Cedric Labrie | 1st career NHL game | January 7, 2012 |
| Eric Brewer | 800th career NHL game | January 12, 2012 |
| Dana Tyrell | 100th career NHL game | January 12, 2012 |
| Pierre-Cedric Labrie | 1st career NHL assist 1st career NHL point | January 21, 2012 |
| Trevor Smith | 1st career NHL assist | January 21, 2012 |
| Mike Angelidis | 1st career NHL game 1st career NHL goal 1st career NHL point | January 24, 2012 |
| Dominic Moore | 500th career NHL game | January 31, 2012 |
| Martin St. Louis | 900th career NHL game | February 4, 2012 |
| Brendan Mikkelson | 100th career NHL game | February 11, 2012 |
| Steven Stamkos | 300th career NHL game | February 16, 2012 |
| Steven Stamkos | 300th career NHL point | February 21, 2012 |
| Tim Wallace | 1st career NHL goal | March 3, 2012 |
| Ryan Shannon | 300th career NHL game | March 6, 2012 |
| Victor Hedman | 200th career NHL game | March 8, 2012 |
| Dustin Tokarski | 1st career NHL win | March 13, 2012 |
| Brendan Mikkelson | 1st career NHL goal | March 17, 2012 |
| Dwayne Roloson | 600th career NHL game | March 24, 2012 |
| Brandon Segal | 100th career NHL game | March 29, 2012 |
| J. T. Brown | 1st career NHL game | March 31, 2012 |
| J. T. Brown | 1st career NHL assist 1st career NHL point | April 7, 2012 |

## Transactions

The Lightning have been involved in the following transactions during the 2011–12 season.

### Trades

| Date | Details | Details |
| June 25, 2011 | To New York Islanders Future considerations | To Tampa Bay Lightning Bruno Gervais |
| June 25, 2011 | To Phoenix Coyotes Marc-Antoine Pouliot | To Tampa Bay Lightning 7th-round pick in 2011 |
| December 2, 2011 | To Florida Panthers Mike Vernace James Wright | To Tampa Bay Lightning Mike Kostka Evan Oberg |
| January 6, 2012 | To Calgary Flames Blair Jones | To Tampa Bay Lightning Brendan Mikkelson |
| February 16, 2012 | To San Jose Sharks Dominic Moore 7th-round pick in 2012 | To Tampa Bay Lightning 2nd-round pick in 2012 |
| February 18, 2012 | To Philadelphia Flyers Pavel Kubina | To Tampa Bay Lightning Jon Kalinski Conditional 2nd-round pick in 2012 or 2013 4th-round pick in 2013 |
| February 19, 2012 | To Colorado Avalanche Steve Downie | To Tampa Bay Lightning Kyle Quincey |
| February 19, 2012 | To Detroit Red Wings Kyle Quincey | To Tampa Bay Lightning Sebastien Piche 1st-round pick in 2012 |
| February 19, 2012 | To Chicago Blackhawks Matt Fornataro | To Tampa Bay Lightning Brandon Segal |
| February 27, 2012 | To Detroit Red Wings Conditional 7th-round pick in 2013 | To Tampa Bay Lightning Mike Commodore |
| February 27, 2012 | To Ottawa Senators Matt Gilroy | To Tampa Bay Lightning Brian Lee |
| February 27, 2012 | To Toronto Maple Leafs Carter Ashton | To Tampa Bay Lightning Keith Aulie |
Lost via retirement
Player
Player signings
PlayerDateContract terms
Michael VernaceJune 13, 20111 year, $525,000
Mike AngelidisJune 15, 20111 year, $525,000
Blair JonesJune 24, 20111 year, $525,000
Eric BrewerJune 24, 20114 years, $15.4 million
Bruno GervaisJune 27, 20111 year, $550,000
Marc-Andre BergeronJune 28, 20112 years, $2 million
Adam HallJune 29, 20111 year, $600,000
Dwayne RolosonJune 30, 20111 year, $3 million
Brett ConnollyJuly 1, 20113 years, $2.7 million entry-level contract
Scott JacksonJuly 15, 20111 year, $550,000
Steven StamkosJuly 19, 20115 years, $37.5 million
Teddy PurcellJuly 20, 20112 years, $4.725 million
Ondrej PalatOctober 10, 20113 years, $1.7 million entry-level contract
Dana TyrellNovember 28, 20112 years, $1.2 million contract extension
Victor HedmanNovember 30, 20115 years, $20 million contract extension
Tom PyattJanuary 9, 20122 years, $1.2 million contract extension
Vladislav NamestnikovMarch 13, 20123 years, $2.775 million entry-level contract
Alex KillornMarch 19, 20122 years, $1.75 million entry-level contract :

## Draft picks

Tampa Bay's selections at the 2011 NHL Entry Draft.
| Round | # | Player | Position | Nationality | College/junior/club team (league) |
| 1 | 27 | Vladislav Namestnikov | C | Russia | London Knights (OHL) |
| 2 | 58 | Nikita Kucherov | W | Russia | CSKA Moscow (KHL) |
| 5 | 148 | Nikita Nesterov | D | Russia | Traktor Chelyabinsk 2 (Russia-Jr.) |
| 6 | 178 | Adam Wilcox | G | United States | Green Bay Gamblers (USHL) |
| 7 | 201 (from Phoenix) | Matthew Peca | C | Canada | Pembroke Lumber Kings (CCHL) |
| 7 | 208 | Ondrej Palat | LW | Czech Republic | Drummondville Voltigeurs (QMJHL) |