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It's not only the 'Triplets' producing for the Tampa Bay Lightning

It's not only the 'Triplets' producing for the Tampa Bay Lightning

We all know what kind of damage the “Triplets” line of Tyler Johnson, Ondrej Palat and Nikita Kucherov have done for the Lightning in these playoffs. But as the Tampa offense has come alive in their last two games against the New York Rangers, a different line is starting to heat up.

There was a time this postseason when the speculation was that Steven Stamkos was injured. He went goalless over nine games from the end of the regular season until Game 2 against Montreal in the second round, but along with Valtteri Filppula and Alex Killorn, the Lightning’s top line is producing, and that’s a scary thing for the Rangers and Henrik Lundqvist, who have allowed 12 goals in two games after holding Tampa to a single tally in Game 1.

Stamkos has scored four times in the last five games, while Killorn has three goals and five points in Tampa’s last two games. Filppula, meanwhile, only has two assists in the series, but has won 62-percent of his face-offs.

As Palat does for the "Triplets" line, Lightning head coach Jon Cooper channeled his inner Reggie Jackson and likened Killorn to being the straw that stirs the drink for the top line, and he's picked a great time to deliver the points.

“We’ve got a good thing going with our line right now,” said Stamkos “Killer’s a big part of that because of his speed and his size. He uses that very well and it’s been effective.”

While the “Triplets” and the duo of Stamkos and Killorn have helped Tampa take a 2-1 series lead, Cooper was quick to spread the love when talking about his roster and not focus the success of the team to those “Fab 5.”

“I know Johnny, Kuch, and Palat have consistently been, I guess, scoring throughout the playoffs, but you can't leave [Ben] Bishop out. Bishop has been unreal for us. You can't leave [Anton] Stralman out, [Victor] Hedman, [Jason] Garrison, [Braydon] Coburn, [Andrej Sustr], [Matt] Carle, [Nikita Nesterov], all those guys have come in and contributed.      

“That's why I guess different players get a little bit of notoriety for different things. But for us and I think that's what makes something special about our team is nobody's in there -- they're patting the ‘Triplets’ on the back, but everybody's patting Stralman on the back and Hedman, and all the guys throughout the line-up. You look at Brenden Morrow and what he's brought to our team and his physicality and his fire. He may not get on the podium every time, but he means a ton to our team.

“So, I don't know, call them the Fab 20, not the Fab 5.”

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Sean Leahy is the associate editor for Puck Daddy on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!

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