After a solid season last year, the duo of Sebastian Aho and Johnny Gaudreau are providing the scoring Lightning fans have been waiting for!

The Lightning are showing the scoring oomph that management was looking for last year, sitting first in the Eastern Conference and second overall in goals scored with 108 in 29 games.  Only Vancouver has scored at a better rate, puting the Canucks first in the Western Conference, one point behind the Bolts in the CMHL overall standings.

One would think GM Dave Normoyle made a bunch of offseason moves to improve a roster that had missed the playoffs in back-to-back seasons, but the truth is he did not make a single trade in the offseason.  "I sat down with Head Coach Dave Tippett and the management team during the offseason, and the concensus was that we had a core here that was only going to get better this season", Normoyle told me.  And so they have to this point in the regular season.

The catalysts thus far have been the duo of Johnny Gaudreau and Sebastian Aho.  Playing the majority of their season with Matthew Tkachuk, the trio is definitely getting the job done.  Aho sits one point behind scoring leader Connor McDavid, tied with Brad Marchand with 46 points.  His 15 goals and 31 assists has been accomplished in one less game than either McDavid or Marchand.  Gaudreau sits 7th in league scoring with 18 goals and 22 assists for 40 points.

The Lightning management team is hoping for a little more goal distribution as the season continues on, but they have to feel like they are on the right track based on what they have seen in the first 28 games of their season.

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