2012–13 Tampa Bay Lightning season

2012–13 Tampa Bay Lightning
Division	4th Southeast
Conference	14th Eastern
2012–13 record	18–26–4
Home record	12–10–2
Road record	6–16–2
Goals for	148
Goals against	150
Team information
General manager	Steve Yzerman
Coach	Guy Boucher (Oct.–Mar.) Jon Cooper (Mar.–Apr.)
Captain	Vincent Lecavalier
Alternate captains	Mattias Ohlund Martin St. Louis Steven Stamkos
Arena	Tampa Bay Times Forum
Average attendance	19,056 (99.2%)
Team leaders
Goals	Steven Stamkos (29)
Assists	Martin St. Louis (43)
Points	Martin St. Louis (60)
Penalty minutes	B. J. Crombeen (112)
Plus/minus	Benoit Pouliot ( 8)
Wins	Anders Lindback (10)
Goals against average	Anders Lindback Mathieu Garon (2.90)

The 2012–13 Tampa Bay Lightning season was the franchise's 21st season in the National Hockey League (NHL). The regular season was reduced from its usual 82 games to 48 due to the 2012–13 NHL lockout.

Regular season

The Lightning began the season with one of the best starts in franchise history, earning a 6–1–0 record. However, after that seventh game, the team went 7–16–1, falling to 14th out of 15 teams in the Eastern Conference. This prompted general manager Steve Yzerman to fire head coach Guy Boucher on March 24, 2013 after a 5-3 loss to the Ottawa Senators(who he would eventually end up coaching). Boucher was in his third year as the team's head coach.

One day later, the Lightning named Jon Cooper as the team's new head coach. Cooper was first hired by the organization in 2010 to coach the Lightning's American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate, the Norfolk Admirals, and after the Lightning changed affiliates, the Syracuse Crunch. While coaching the Admirals in the 2011–12 season, the team won 28 consecutive games and would go on to win the Calder Cup, sweeping the championship series. At the time of Cooper's naming as Lightning head coach, ten players on the team's roster had played for Cooper in Syracuse at some point during the season.

With goaltending having been an issue for the team all season, on April 3, the day of the trade deadline, the Lightning acquired Ben Bishop from the Ottawa Senators. In return, the Lightning dealt rookie left wing Cory Conacher, who at the time was second in the League in points among first-year players with 24, and led all rookies in assists with 15. The Lightning also gave up a fourth-round pick in the 2013 NHL Entry Draft.

The Lightning tied the Montreal Canadiens for the fewest shorthanded goals scored with zero.

Standings

Divisional standings

Southeast Division

Pos	Team	GP	W	L	OTL	ROW	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	y – Washington Capitals	48	27	18	3	24	149	126	23	57
2	Winnipeg Jets	48	24	21	3	22	128	109	19	51
3	Carolina Hurricanes	48	19	25	4	18	128	133	−5	42
4	Tampa Bay Lightning	48	18	26	4	17	148	104	44	40
5	Florida Panthers	48	15	27	6	12	112	143	−31	36

Source: National Hockey League
y – Clinched division

Conference standings

Eastern Conference

Pos	Div	Team	GP	W	L	OTL	ROW	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	AT	z – Pittsburgh Penguins	48	36	12	0	33	165	119	46	72
2	NE	y – Montreal Canadiens	48	29	14	5	26	149	126	23	63
3	SE	y – Washington Capitals	48	27	18	3	24	149	130	19	57
4	NE	x – Boston Bruins	48	28	14	6	24	131	109	22	62
5	NE	x – Toronto Maple Leafs	48	26	17	5	26	145	133	12	57
6	AT	x – New York Rangers	48	26	18	4	22	130	112	18	56
7	NE	x – Ottawa Senators	48	25	17	6	21	116	104	12	56
8	AT	x – New York Islanders	48	24	17	7	20	139	139	0	55
9	SE	Winnipeg Jets	48	24	21	3	22	128	144	−16	51
10	AT	Philadelphia Flyers	48	23	22	3	22	133	141	−8	49
11	AT	New Jersey Devils	48	19	19	10	17	112	129	−17	48
12	NE	Buffalo Sabres	48	21	21	6	14	115	143	−28	48
13	SE	Carolina Hurricanes	48	19	25	4	18	128	160	−32	42
14	SE	Tampa Bay Lightning	48	18	26	4	17	148	150	−2	40
15	SE	Florida Panthers	48	15	27	6	12	112	171	−59	36

Source: National Hockey League
x – Clinched playoff spot; y – Clinched division; z – Clinched conference

Schedule and results

The Tampa Bay Lightning 20th Anniversary patch

Preseason

As a result of the 2012–13 NHL lockout, the entire pre-season was canceled.

Regular season

Due to the 2012–13 NHL lockout, the Lightning's original 82-game schedule was reduced to a 48-game schedule in which they would face only teams from the Eastern Conference.

2012–13 Game Log
January: 5–1–0, 10 Points (home: 4–0–0; road: 1–1–0) Game Date Opponent Score OT Decision Location Attendance Record Points Recap 1 January 19 Washington Capitals 6–3 Lindback Tampa Bay Times Forum 19,204 1–0–0 2 2 January 21 @ New York Islanders 3–4 Lindback Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum 15,322 1–1–0 2 3 January 22 @ Carolina Hurricanes 4–1 Garon PNC Arena 18,680 2–1–0 4 4 January 25 Ottawa Senators 6–4 Lindback Tampa Bay Times Forum 19,204 3–1–0 6 5 January 27 Philadelphia Flyers 5–1 Lindback Tampa Bay Times Forum 19,204 4–1–0 8 6 January 29 Florida Panthers 5–2 Lindback Tampa Bay Times Forum 19,204 5–1–0 10
February: 4–9–1, 9 Points (home: 2–4–1; road: 2–5–0) Game Date Opponent Score OT Decision Location Attendance Record Points Recap 7 February 1 Winnipeg Jets 8–3 Lindback Tampa Bay Times Forum 19,204 6–1–0 12 8 February 2 New York Rangers 2–3 Garon Tampa Bay Times Forum 19,204 6–2–0 12 9 February 5 @ Philadelphia Flyers 1–2 Lindback Wells Fargo Center 19,616 6–3–0 12 10 February 7 @ New Jersey Devils 2–4 Lindback Prudential Center 14,802 6–4–0 12 – February 9 @ Boston Bruins Game rescheduled to April 25 due to a blizzard in Boston. 11 February 10 @ New York Rangers 1–5 Garon Madison Square Garden 17,200 6–5–0 12 12 February 12 Montreal Canadiens 3–4 SO Lindback Tampa Bay Times Forum 19,204 6–5–1 13 13 February 14 Washington Capitals 3–4 Garon Tampa Bay Times Forum 19,204 6–6–1 13 14 February 16 @ Florida Panthers 6–5 OT Lindback BB&T Center 17,009 7–6–1 15 15 February 19 Toronto Maple Leafs 4–2 Lindback Tampa Bay Times Forum 19,204 8–6–1 17 16 February 21 Boston Bruins 2–4 Lindback Tampa Bay Times Forum 19,204 8–7–1 17 17 February 23 @ Carolina Hurricanes 5–2 Garon PNC Arena 18,680 9–7–1 19 18 February 24 @ Pittsburgh Penguins 3–5 Garon Consol Energy Center 18,632 9–8–1 19 19 February 26 Buffalo Sabres 1–2 Garon Tampa Bay Times Forum 19,204 9–9–1 19 20 February 28 @ New York Rangers 1–4 Garon Madison Square Garden 17,200 9–10–1 19
March: 6–8–0, 12 Points (home: 4–3–0; road: 2–5–0) Game Date Opponent Score OT Decision Location Attendance Record Points Recap 21 March 2 @ Boston Bruins 2–3 Garon TD Garden 17,565 9–11–1 19 22 March 4 @ Pittsburgh Penguins 3–4 Lindback Consol Energy Center 18,656 9–12–1 19 23 March 5 @ New Jersey Devils 5–2 Lindback Prudential Center 15,229 10–12–1 21 24 March 7 Winnipeg Jets 1–2 Lindback Tampa Bay Times Forum 19,204 10–13–1 21 25 March 9 Montreal Canadiens 3–4 Desjardins Tampa Bay Times Forum 19,204 10–14–1 21 26 March 12 @ Florida Panthers 3–2 Lindback BB&T Center 15,174 11–14–1 23 27 March 14 New York Islanders 0–2 Lindback Tampa Bay Times Forum 19,204 11–15–1 23 28 March 16 Carolina Hurricanes 4–1 Garon Tampa Bay Times Forum 19,204 12–15–1 25 29 March 18 Philadelphia Flyers 4–2 Lindback Tampa Bay Times Forum 19,204 13–15–1 27 30 March 20 @ Toronto Maple Leafs 2–4 Garon Air Canada Centre 19,433 13–16–1 27 31 March 23 @ Ottawa Senators 3–5 Desjardins Scotiabank Place 20,016 13–17–1 27 32 March 24 @ Winnipeg Jets 2–3 Desjardins MTS Centre 15,004 13–18–1 27 33 March 26 Buffalo Sabres 2–1 Garon Tampa Bay Times Forum 19,204 14–18–1 29 34 March 29 New Jersey Devils 5–4 SO Garon Tampa Bay Times Forum 19,204 15–18–1 31
April: 2–8–3, 7 Points (home: 1–3–1; road: 1–5–2) Game Date Opponent Score OT Decision Location Attendance Record Points Recap 35 April 2 Florida Panthers 2–3 SO Garon Tampa Bay Times Forum 17,904 15–18–2 32 36 April 4 @ Carolina Hurricanes 5–0 Bishop PNC Arena 17,042 16–18–2 34 37 April 6 @ New York Islanders 2–4 Bishop Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum 16,170 16–19–2 34 38 April 7 @ Washington Capitals 2–4 Bishop Verizon Center 18,506 16–20–2 34 39 April 9 Ottawa Senators 3–2 Bishop Tampa Bay Times Forum 17,323 17–20–2 36 40 April 11 Pittsburgh Penguins 3–6 Bishop Tampa Bay Times Forum 19,204 17–21–2 36 41 April 13 @ Washington Capitals 5–6 OT Garon Verizon Center 18,506 17–21–3 37 42 April 14 @ Buffalo Sabres 1–3 Garon First Niagara Center 18,991 17–22–3 37 43 April 16 @ Winnipeg Jets 3–4 SO Bishop MTS Centre 15,004 17–22–4 38 44 April 18 @ Montreal Canadiens 2–3 Bishop Bell Centre 21,273 17–23–4 38 45 April 21 Carolina Hurricanes 2–3 Lindback Tampa Bay Times Forum 19,204 17–24–4 38 46 April 24 Toronto Maple Leafs 5–2 Bishop Tampa Bay Times Forum 18,826 18–24–4 40 47 April 25 @ Boston Bruins 0–2 Lindback TD Garden 17,565 18–25–4 40 48 April 27 Florida Panthers 3–5 Lindback Tampa Bay Times Forum 19,204 18–26–4 40
2012–13 Regular Season Schedule
Lightning score listed first;   Win (2 Points)   Loss (0 points)   Overtime/shootout loss (1 point)

Playoffs

The Lightning were unable to qualify for the playoffs for the second year in a row.

Player stats

Final stats

Skaters

Regular Season

Player	GP	G	A	Pts	/-	PIM
Martin St. Louis	48	17	43	60	0	14
Steven Stamkos	48	29	28	57	−4	32
Teddy Purcell	48	11	25	36	−1	12
Vincent Lecavalier	39	10	22	32	−5	29
Cory Conacher‡	35	9	15	24	−3	16
Matt Carle	48	5	17	22	1	4
Benoit Pouliot	34	8	12	20	8	15
Victor Hedman	44	4	16	20	1	31
Alexander Killorn	38	7	12	19	−6	14
Sami Salo	46	2	15	17	5	16
Tom Pyatt	43	8	8	16	5	12
Nate Thompson	45	7	8	15	−2	17
Eric Brewer	48	4	8	12	3	30
Richard Panik	25	5	4	9	−2	4
Ryan Malone	24	6	2	8	−3	22
B. J. Crombeen	44	1	7	8	4	112
Keith Aulie	45	2	5	7	1	60
Tyler Johnson	14	3	3	6	3	4
Radko Gudas	22	2	3	5	3	38
Marc-Andre Bergeron‡	12	1	4	5	3	4
Dana Tyrell	21	1	3	4	−3	4
Ondrej Palat	14	2	2	4	5	0
Adam Hall‡	20	0	4	4	3	23
Pierre-Cedric Labrie	19	2	1	3	2	30
Brendan Mikkelson	4	0	1	1	1	6
Brett Connolly	5	1	0	1	−3	0
Mathieu Roy	1	0	0	0	−1	0
J. T. Wyman	1	0	0	0	−1	0
Brian Lee	22	0	0	0	−13	16
Mike Angelidis	1	0	0	0	0	0
Mark Barberio	2	0	0	0	−2	0
Matt Taormina	2	0	0	0	−1	0
Andrej Sustr	2	0	0	0	1	0
Totals		101	186	287	15	370

Goaltenders

Regular Season

Player	GP	GS	TOI	W	L	OT	GA	GAA	SA	SV%	SO	G	A	PIM
Anders Lindback	24	21	1304:11	10	10	1	63	2.90	642	.902	0	0	1	0
Mathieu Garon	18	16	910:04	5	9	2	44	2.90	427	.897	0	0	0	0
Ben Bishop†	9	9	502:26	3	4	1	25	2.99	302	.917	1	0	0	2
Cedrick Desjardins	3	2	160:06	0	3	0	8	3.00	73	.890	0	0	0	0
Totals		48	2876:47	21	23	4	140	2.92	1444	.903	1	0	1	2

^†Denotes player spent time with another team before joining Tampa Bay. Stats reflect time with Tampa Bay only.
^‡Traded to Tampa Bay mid-season.
Bold/italics denotes franchise record

Awards and records

Awards

Regular season

Player	Award	Awarded
Martin St. Louis	NHL Third Star of the Week	January 28, 2013
Steven Stamkos	NHL Second Star of the Week	February 25, 2013
Steven Stamkos	NHL First Star of the Month (February)	March 1, 2013
Martin St. Louis	Art Ross Trophy	April 2013
Martin St. Louis	Lady Byng Memorial Trophy	June 14, 2013

Milestones

Regular season

Player	Milestone	Reached
Cory Conacher	1st career NHL game 1st career NHL assist 1st career NHL goal 1st career NHL point	January 19, 2013
Teddy Purcell	100th career NHL assist	January 19, 2013
Vincent Lecavalier	1,000th career NHL game	January 21, 2013
Alexander Killorn	1st career NHL game 1st career NHL assist 1st career NHL point	February 10, 2013
Richard Panik	1st career NHL game	February 12, 2013
B. J. Crombeen	300th career NHL game	February 14, 2013
Alexander Killorn	1st career NHL goal	February 16, 2013
Brian Lee	200th career NHL game	February 19, 2013
Richard Panik	1st career NHL goal 1st career NHL point	February 23, 2013
Ondrej Palat	1st career NHL game 1st career NHL assist 1st career NHL point	March 4, 2013
Tom Pyatt	200th career NHL game	March 9, 2013
Radko Gudas	1st career NHL game	March 12, 2013
Keith Aulie	100th career NHL game	March 14, 2013
Tyler Johnson	1st career NHL game	March 14, 2013
Teddy Purcell	300th career NHL game	March 16, 2013
Tyler Johnson	1st career NHL goal 1st career NHL assist 1st career NHL point	March 16, 2013
Ondrej Palat	1st career NHL goal	March 16, 2013
Matt Carle	500th career NHL game	March 18, 2013
Steven Stamkos	200th career NHL goal	March 18, 2013
Radko Gudas	1st career NHL goal 1st career NHL point	March 20, 2013
Richard Panik	1st career NHL assist	March 23, 2013
Andrej Sustr	1st career NHL game	March 29, 2013
Nate Thompson	300th career NHL game	April 6, 2013
Mark Barberio	1st career NHL game	April 9, 2013
Pierre-Cedric Labrie	1st career NHL goal	April 9, 2013
Martin St. Louis	900th career NHL point	April 9, 2013
Sami Salo	800th career NHL game	April 13, 2013

Transactions

The Lightning have been involved in the following transactions during the 2012–13 season.

Trades

Date	Details
June 15, 2012	To Nashville Predators Sebastien Caron 2nd-round pick in 2012 2nd-round pick in 2012 3rd-round pick in 2013	To Tampa Bay Lightning Anders Lindback Kyle Wilson 7th-round pick in 2012
June 23, 2012	To Boston Bruins Michel Ouellet 5th-round pick in 2012	To Tampa Bay Lightning Benoit Pouliot
July 10, 2012	To St. Louis Blues 4th-round pick in 2013 4th-round pick in 2014	To Tampa Bay Lightning B. J. Crombeen 5th-round pick in 2014
January 21, 2013	To Florida Panthers Future considerations	To Tampa Bay Lightning Jean-Francois Jacques
February 14, 2013	To Montreal Canadiens Dustin Tokarski	To Tampa Bay Lightning Cedrick Desjardins
March 11, 2013	To Anaheim Ducks Kyle Wilson	To Tampa Bay Lightning Dan Sexton
April 2, 2013	To Carolina Hurricanes Marc-Andre Bergeron	To Tampa Bay Lightning Adam Hall 7th-round pick in 2013
April 2, 2013	To Chicago Blackhawks Kirill Gotovets	To Tampa Bay Lightning Philippe Paradis
April 3, 2013	To Ottawa Senators Cory Conacher 4th-round pick in 2013	To Tampa Bay Lightning Ben Bishop

Free agents signed

Player	Former team	Contract terms
Artem Sergeev	Val-d'Or Foreurs	3 years, $1.7 million entry-level contract
Sami Salo	Vancouver Canucks	2 years, $7.5 million
Matt Carle	Philadelphia Flyers	6 years, $33 million
Matt Taormina	New Jersey Devils	1 year, $700,000
Dmitri Korobov	Dinamo Minsk	2 years, $1.55 million
Andrej Sustr	University of Nebraska Omaha	2 years, $1.85 million entry-level contract
Mathieu Roy	Hamburg Freezers	3 games
Reto Suri	EV Zug	1 year, $867,500 entry-level contract

Free agents lost

Player	New team	Contract terms
Trevor Smith	Pittsburgh Penguins	1 year, $575,000
Bruno Gervais	Philadelphia Flyers	2 years, $1.65 million
Brandon Segal	New York Rangers	1 year, $550,000
Tim Wallace	Carolina Hurricanes	1 year, $700,000

Claimed via waivers

Player	Former team	Date claimed off waivers

Lost via waivers

Player	New team	Date claimed off waivers
Adam Hall	Carolina Hurricanes	March 16, 2013
Adam Hall	Philadelphia Flyers	April 3, 2013

Lost via retirement

Player

Player signings

Player	Date	Contract terms
Riku Helenius	June 14, 2012	2 years, $1.2 million
Adam Hall	June 15, 2012	1 year, $650,000
J. T. Wyman	June 15, 2012	1 year, $600,000
Mike Angelidis	June 18, 2012	1 year, $525,000
Brendan Mikkelson	June 27, 2012	1 year, $600,000
Brian Lee	June 28, 2012	2 years, $2.3 million
Keith Aulie	June 30, 2012	1 year, $577,500
Evan Oberg	July 1, 2012	1 year, $560,000
Benoit Pouliot	July 1, 2012	1 year, $1.8 million
Anders Lindback	July 6, 2012	2 years, $3.6 million
Teddy Purcell	July 10, 2012	3 years, $13.5 million contract extension
Nikita Kucherov	September 10, 2012	3 years, $2.2275 million entry-level contract
Slater Koekkoek	March 20, 2013	3 years, $2.775 million entry-level contract
Nate Thompson	March 23, 2013	4 years, $6.4 million contract extension
Tanner Richard	April 1, 2013	3 years, $1.925 million entry-level contract
Luke Witkowski	April 1, 2013	2 years, $1.255 million entry-level contract
B. J. Crombeen	April 1, 2013	2 years, $2.3 million contract extension
Ben Bishop	April 15, 2013	2 years, $4.6 million contract extension
Nikita Nesterov	April 30, 2013	3 years, $2.2275 million entry-level contract
Cedric Paquette	May 3, 2013	3 years, $1.9 million entry-level contract
Radko Gudas	May 6, 2013	3 years, $2.975 million contract extension
Keith Aulie	June 26, 2013	1 year, $975,000
Mike Angelidis	June 27, 2013	1 year, $550,000

Draft picks

Main article: List of Tampa Bay Lightning draft picks

Tampa Bay Lightning's picks at the 2012 NHL Entry Draft, held in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on June 22 & 23, 2012.

Round	#	Player	Pos	Nationality	College/Junior/Club team (League)
1	10	Slater Koekkoek	D	Canada	Peterborough Petes (OHL)
1	19[a]	Andrei Vasilevskiy	G	Russia	Tolpar Ufa (MHL)
2	40	Dylan Blujus	D	United States	Brampton Battalion (OHL)
2	53[b]	Brian Hart	RW	United States	Phillips Exeter Academy (USHS-NH)
3	71	Tanner Richard	C	Canada	Guelph Storm (OHL)
4	101	Cedric Paquette	C	Canada	Blainville-Boisbriand Armada (QMJHL)
6	161	Jake Dotchin	D	Canada	Owen Sound Attack (OHL)
7	202[c]	Nikita Gusev	LW	Russia	CSKA Moscow Jr. (MHL)

Draft Notes

• ^a The Detroit Red Wings' first-round pick went to the Tampa Bay Lightning as a result of a February 21, 2012, trade that sent Kyle Quincey to the Red Wings in exchange for Sebastien Piche and this pick.
• ^b The Philadelphia Flyers' second-round pick (originally from the Florida Panthers) went to the Tampa Bay Lightning as a result of a February 18, 2012, trade that sent Pavel Kubina to the Flyers in exchange for Jon Kalinski, 2013 fourth-round pick and this pick.
• The Tampa Bay Lightning's fifth-round pick went to the Boston Bruins as the result of a June 23, 2012, trade that sent Benoit Pouliot to the Lightning in exchange for Michel Ouellet and this pick.
• The Tampa Bay Lightning's seventh-round pick went to the San Jose Sharks as the result of a February 16, 2012, trade that sent a 2012 second-round pick to the Lightning in exchange for Dominic Moore and this pick.
• ^c The Nashville Predators' seventh-round pick went to the Tampa Bay Lightning as a result of a June 15, 2012, trade that sent Sebastien Caron, two 2012 second-round picks and a 2013 third-round pick to the Predators in exchange for Anders Lindback, Kyle Wilson and this pick.

See also

• 2012–13 NHL season