Photo by Scott Audette /NHLI via Getty Images They won’t be back for the regular season, but it’s good to see them on the power play. The last time Steven Stamkos and Nikita Kucherov appeared on the ice at the same time in a NHL game was the 17:15 mark of the second period in a game against the Toronto Maple Leafs on February 25th, 2020. That’s right it’s been fourteen months since the two of them did something like this in a sanctioned game: First it was Stamkos missing the rest of the 2019-20 regular season and most of the playoffs with a core injury. Then it was Kucherov missing all of this season while he recovered from hip surgery. While they did appear in the same game in the Stanley Cup Final (does 2:47 mean anything to people around here?) they did not play on the same line. So it was wonderful to see the photos of them skating together at practice with the rest of the team on Tuesday. Love to see these guys on the ice #GoBolts pic.twitter.com/JZ3PH9PCzf— x - Tampa Bay Lightning (@TBLightning) May 4, 2021 The nice part was that they weren’t wearing no-contact jerseys (something that Coach Cooper doesn’t really care about) and they were taking regular rushes on a fifth line with Mitchell Stephens. This isn’t like some of the practices earlier in the season where Kucherov would come out on the ice for a few twirls and a drill or two. The two leaders were involved, including spending time on a power play unit at the end of practice with Victor Hedman, Brayden Point, and Alex Killorn. That’s a sight for Lightning fans’ sore eyes, and a bit of a nightmare for the rest of the league. After the practice Coach Cooper did indicate that they aren’t expected to be back for the regular season, especially with the compacted finish with four games in the last six days. For Stamkos, it was the first time the media has seen him skate with the team since his injury at the beginning of April. The coach was cagey (as usual) in regards to his timetable, stating that he is “progressing as he should be”. The Lightning probably won’t have another full squad practice for the rest of the season, so it was a good opportunity for them to get some work in with their teammates. For Kucherov, it is the beginning of getting him back into game shape after his long layoff. The league still hasn’t announced when they will start the playoffs so there is a chance that he could have a four or five days to get ready for Game One of Round One. The more practices he gets into, the better it will be for his timing and game readiness. Jan Rutta, who has been out of the line-up since March 30th, also practiced. Unlike the two forwards, there is a chance he makes it back into one of the next four games. Coach Cooper would like to see how he’s recovered from his lower-body injury before throwing him into a playoff game. He knows pretty much what he’s getting out of Stamkos and Kucherov, Rutta is a bit more of a question mark. Things are heading in the right direction for the Lightning to have a fully healthy roster heading into the playoffs. That’s all we can really ask for as fans, right? Lightning Links Gronk shows off his hockey skills As a youth in Buffalo, Rob Gronkowski played a little hockey. He put those skills on display at the Lightning’s practice on Tuesday as he skated a little and then spent some time stopping pucks. In case you were wondering, no player in franchise history has worn the number “87” in a regular season game. Where the Lightning stand as they hit the stretch run Dave Mishkin looks at the status of the Lightning as they play their final four games of the season. He likes the improvements made defensively in terms of lowering shots against and the dwindling number of odd-man rushes against. Solar Bears stumble at the end of the month Tracey looks at the long week that was for Orlando. While they may have lost a few, their Orlando Magic-inspired sweaters were the real winners of the week. Hockey Highlights: Ch-ch-ch-changes in the AHL One of the Crunch’s biggest rivals is moving out of the North Division. While it isn’t 100% official, it looks like the Utica Comets are moving to Abbotsford, British Columbis next season. That allows them to be just a touch closer to their NHL affiliate - the Vancouver Canucks. It doesn’t look like Utica will be without hockey for too long as team president, Rob Esche, registered the name “Utica Devils” last month. Presumably the Binghamton Devils, the current AHL partner of the New Jersey Devils, will be relocating there. All of this should be ratified by the AHL Board of Governers on May 6th. Tom Wilson Fined After the video of his actions against the Rangers floated around Monday night, I texted “Tom Wilson fined $5,000 the maximum amount allowed under the CBA” as a joke. Well, the joke is on me and the entire league as Wilson was indeed fined just $5,000 for his post-scrum antics. I had half of an article written about it, but decided to scrap it. What’s the point of wasting words on Wilson or the Department of Player Safety? Rangers issue statement on incident While I may have trashcanned my thoughts on Wilson, the New York Rangers went scorched earth in their response. I personally can’t remember a team calling for the removal of a NHL executive by name. Speaking of DoPS: Dangerous and cheap play by Gostisbehere here, cross-checking Mark Friedman from behind after EN goal. Friedman goes flying into the boards pic.twitter.com/VgVHzdYY5o— NHL Safety Watch (@NHLSafetyWatch) May 5, 2021 Should we even hazard a guess as to what the punishment will be? Fifteen game suspension? Five-thousand dollar fine? Fifty dollar fine? Make Gostisbehere write a heartfelt apology letter? ‘Everybody’s tired’ As the majority of the league looks forward to their final week of the regular season (except for the North which has games scheduled through the 19th) it seems like a lot of folks around the league are just happy to have made it to the end. McDavid’s March to 100, explained Put a transcendent talent in a division with spotty-to-bad goaltending, sit back and watch him pile up the points. That’s been the story for Connor McDavid and his push for 100 points in just 56 games. Having just played his 50th game, he’s sitting at 91 points. He’s posted multi-point games seven out of the last eight times he’s stepped on the ice. Kudos to the Flames for shutting him out for one game. It’s an impressive run. PWHPA’s Dream Gap Tour rescheduled The third and final stop for the U.S. showcase circuit will take place in St. Louis on May 16th and 17th. 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Photo by John Cordes/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images Sugar Shane looked sweet and Rays offense capitalized on Angels errors to extend winning streak to three games The Tampa Bay Rays are looking for some more California love as they face the Los Angeles Angels for the second game of their four-game-series. Shane McClanahan (0-0, 4.50 ERA) has the start for the Rays going up against Alex Cobb (1-1, 7.16 ERA). Making it more interesting, McClanahan was the compensation pick the Rays received when Cobb departed Tampa to sign with the Orioles in 2018. On Star Wars Day, the Rays hope the force is with them. Who's ready for more late night courtesy of @Sugar_ShaneM? pic.twitter.com/kFerlBjL3D— Tampa Bay Rays (@RaysBaseball) May 4, 2021 Cobb was off to a good start to begin the game getting two outs from the first two batters with a Randy Arozarena strikeout and Austin Meadows line out to center. A new hope for the Rays came when Manuel Margot reached first on a fielding error by Jose Iglesias. On the very next pitch, Brandon Lowe hit to second baseman David Fletcher couldn’t handle the ball. Margot took full advantage of the consecutive mistakes to somehow score on what should have been ended the inning. The reality of this inning was determined by the level of focus of both teams. A Yandy Diaz groundout would finally close the inning. Manuel Margot scored from first. On a ground ball to second.For real. #RaysUp pic.twitter.com/D1JDCBGLSJ— Bally Sports Sun: Rays (@BallyRays) May 5, 2021 Fletcher would attempt to redeem his defensive mistake with a leadoff single and advance to second on a wild pitch. A Mike Trout walk gave the Angels two baserunners with one out but that would be the extent of their offense as a Jared Walsh strikeout and Iglesias groundout would closeout an interesting first inning with the Rays leading 1-0. The top of the second almost felt like a clone of the first with Cobb getting the first two batters out and then baserunners getting on for the Rays. Kevin Kiermaier was walked by Cobb and then stole second. Willy Adames was walked on four pitches making it feel like there may be more runs coming. Cobb would then strikeout the next four Rays batters he faced to get out of the second and third innings. McClanahan continued to be impressive retiring the side in both the second and third innings to complete a streak of eight straight Angels batters. He left some hitters mesmerized without having to do the Jedi magic hand thing. McClanahan on a roll for #Rays, has retired 8 straight #Angels, and made some look bad in doing so— Marc Topkin (@TBTimes_Rays) May 5, 2021 The fourth inning was a rogue one for Cobb’s command. Yandy Diaz led off for the Rays and walked in five pitches. Joey Wendle came to the plate and also walked in five pitches giving the Rays the gift of a runner in scoring position and prompting a visit to the mound. Clearly the plan was to throw sinkers down and away to Mike Zunino as Cobb threw three in a row to get him to ground into a double play, advancing Diaz to third. https://baseballsavant.mlb.com/ A Kevin Kiermaier walk and stolen base would not be enough as Adames struck out to end the half-inning with the Rays somehow still only leading by a single run. McClanahan extended his consecutive batters retired streak to 10 with strikeouts to Mike Trout and Jared Walsh (on a foul tip). Iglesias would get on with a double and he would walk Justin Upton to give the Angels some baserunners. After a mound visit, McClanahan was able to close out the inning and his outing on a Pujols out to right field. Luis Patiño takes over for the Rays in the fifth, so that's it for Shane McClanahan tonight.Impressive stuff again from McClanahan: 4 IP, 2 H, 2 BB, 5 K; 63 pitches, 44 strikes, 10 swinging strikes. Five fastballs topped 100 mph, and his slider was nasty. pic.twitter.com/kapmNFkRLH— Adam Berry (@adamdberry) May 5, 2021 Some would say there is no such thing as luck but the Rays sure got some breaks in this game. In the top of the fifth inning Arozarena singles to left to get on base to lead off the inning. Then while stealing second he advances to third thanks to a throwing error from Angels catcher Max Stassi. All of this paved the way for an Austin Meadows ground out that would score Arozarena to give the Rays a 2-0 lead. Luis Patino came in to replace McClanahan in the bottom of the fifth. He only needed 12 pitches for an effective 1-2-3 inning and maintain the lead. Steve Cishek came in to replace Alex Cobb in the top of the sixth and the Rays were ready. Cobb finished with 5 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 0 ER, 5 BB, and 8 K. A respectable start that wasn’t backed up defensively. The inning opened with singles to Diaz and Wendle which must have caused a lack of faith in the pitcher. After a mound visit, he faced Yoshi Tsutsugo who was in for Mike Zunino likely to try to get something positive to happen for the Rays with runners in scoring position. Tsutsugo would strikeout swinging and that would be the end of Cishek’s appearance. Alex Claudio came in to replace Cishek but that would not make things better for the Angels. Kiermaier would be the first batter for Claudio to face and he worked a nine-pitch at-bat that ended with a two-run double on a grounder through the right side of the infield to extend the Rays lead to 4-0. Kiermaier really hit the crap out that one pic.twitter.com/DW6SjJL7wo— Jason Collette (@jasoncollette) May 5, 2021 Also, Justin Upton was replaced by Jose Rojas in left field due to an injured left knee. Francisco Mejia was in to replace Tsutsugo and to catch for the Rays in the bottom of the 6th. Another good inning by Patino with the lone exception of Mike Trout proving there is always a bigger fish. Trout hit a solo home run (EV 109.6, 383 ft) over the outer rim of left field. It doesn’t matter how many outfielders you have if the ball leaves the park. Rays still held a 4-1 lead after six. 4 outfielders? No problem for @MikeTrout. pic.twitter.com/PnYafZmKYo— MLB (@MLB) May 5, 2021 Ben Rowen came in to replace Alex Claudio in the top of the seventh inning. He had a front-row seat to see the force awaken in Austin Meadows bat as he gave up a solo homer to lead off the seventh and then a three-run homer in the top of the 8th. Through the top-half of the eighth inning the Rays have an 8-1 lead thanks to five RBIs from Meadows. Austin Meadows with not one, but TWO homers tonight in Anaheim. The guy is mashing baseballs. #RaysUp pic.twitter.com/pnqid04Irs— Spectrum Sports 360 (@SpecSports360) May 5, 2021 Cody Reed came in to pitch for the Rays in the bottom of the eighth and gave up a single to Fletcher and walk to Shohei Ohtani for his first two batters faces. They would both ultimately score on an Iglesias single to make it an 8-3 game headed into the ninth after Iglesias is thrown out at second. The Rays once again runners on first and second with two outs in the ninth, though, them getting stranded on a Brett Phillips ground out is not consequential. Hunter Strickland took the mound and retired the Angels in order in the bottom of the ninth to seal the Rays win 8-3 over the Angels. The Rays were the beneficiary of some defensive errors from the Angels and both teams had to contend with a strike zone that makes you wonder if the umpire’s eyes were deceiving him as they couldn’t be trusted. baseballsavant.mlb.com baseballsavant.mlb.com The two teams are back at it again tomorrow night at 9:38pm as the Rays look to extend their winning streak to four and win the series. Andrew Kittredge will be the Opener for the Rays and Shohei Ohtani will start for the Angels. Good night/morning.