Tampa Bay Lightning’s Martin St. Louis looked up by younger players for guidance in the postseason
Martin St. Louis is one of the best players that Tampa Bay Lightning has come across. The last time that he was involved in a long run during the Stanley Cup was in 2004.
At that time in 2004, St. Louis was 29 years old and was playing in his fourth National Hockey League (NHL) season.
He emerged as one of the most dominating men in the season as he won the Art Ross Trophy for scoring the most points during the season, 94, but at that time he was a young player while the playoff’s winning responsibilities were levied on veterans like Tim
Taylor and Darryl Sydor.
"It was amazing to have those guys to guide us through the ups and downs", St. Louis said. "You're a young guy, you don't have that experience. You look up to those guys, they've been through it. You watch those guys on TV. They've been through it and when
things don't go well you can't wait for them to say something. And when things go well, they're the ones that keep things in perspective and calm you down".
Currently he has played for 12 seasons in the NHL and is a veteran himself.
With the current Lightning captain, Vincent Lecavalier, alongside him, who was also part of the 2004 Stanley Cup winning team, both are playing the role that Taylor and Sydor played in 2004.
Lightning is flooded with young blood at the moment with players like Steven Stamkos, Sean Bergenheim and Victor Hedman playing their first playoffs.
Moreover, players like Mattias Ritola and Steve Downie have played only one and six games of the playoffs prior to this postseason, respectively.
This is the time when young players need assistance and in the current Lightning team, it is St. Louis who is looked up to for guidance and to gain wisdom about the sport.
At the moment, St. Louis’s guidance has proved to work very well as Bergenheim has been on the end of scoring goals every now and then.
Now that both the senior players in the team have played considerable ice hockey, they will be aware of the fact that they have a very important role to play in the team to guide younger players.
If these players take the responsibility of guiding other players and the younger players learn from them then one can expect Lightning to go all the way to the Stanley Cup Finals.
"I was very fortunate to have the chance to play with those guys and learn from them and pass it along to our younger players", St. Louis said.
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