Jonathan Drouin scoring, maturing for Tampa Bay Lightning

LOS ANGELES – Tampa Bay Lightning forward Jonathan Drouin was nonchalant when he explained his gorgeous assist in the first period of his team’s 2-1 win over the Los Angeles Kings.

On the play Drouin got open then quickly fired a pass under Jeff Carter’s stick to Tyler Johnson for the goal. To most onlookers in the building, the feed was highlight-reel worthy, but the way Drouin described it, the pass was just another play.

“Just going up the wall, Pearson was kind of on me, spun off him and they were playing man-to-man D so somebody got open. (Johnson) slipped back door and there was a lane there to make a play,” Drouin said. “(I passed it) through (Carter’s) stick – I saw a line through his stick. I had to make it quick. They’re a good defensive team, so you have that one second, that split second and I did.”

For so long, the Lightning had been waiting to see these types of plays by Drouin on a consistent basis. Until this season, he had never been able to find traction in the NHL with the organization, which culminated with last year’s trade demand, failure to report to the minors, and subsequent suspension.

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This year Drouin, the No. 3 overall pick in the talent-rich 2013 NHL Draft, has finally showed his prodigious skill set on a game-by-game basis and his points have come accordingly. He currently has 29 points in 37 games played, good for a 0.78 points per-game average – higher than his previous career-high of 0.48 points per-game last season. Drouin also had 14 points in 17 playoff games in 2016.

“You see what he has done with the puck and being so young I think his ceiling is so high,” Lightning forward Brian Boyle said. “He can get better and better. It’s a lot of fun. It’s a treat to play with him. But yeah, he has been through a lot. He’s maturing. He’s getting better and better at all aspects of it and I think it’s pretty evident.”

Monday’s game against the Kings almost perfectly encapsulated how far the 21-year-old Drouin has come with the Lightning. Head coach Jon Cooper decided to put him on the ice as the team held down the lead near the end of the contest. Before this season Drouin didn’t see those types of minutes.

“We know what he can do offensively. It’s more about him playing within the system and not trying to do too much himself and I think tonight when he doesn’t do too much and keeps it simple, he can be an extremely effective player,” goaltender Ben Bishop said. “You know he has all the offensive ability. It’s more trying to dial him back a little bit and not try to do too much out there so he’s starting to figure it out and he’s going to be a heck of a player.”

Part of this has to do with Drouin’s natural progression as a player. Generally as NHLers get older, they get more responsible and they better understand what it takes to win at pro hockey’s highest level.

But Drouin has also certainly put in some work to improve – especially after last season’s standoff with the Lightning. Instead of sulking in his return to Tampa, he took what happened as a challenge and turned into one of the team’s top scoring options and a player the coaching staff no longer needs to worry about.

“I’m definitely not a young guy anymore,” Drouin said. “You just get experience. You get used to the league. You feel more comfortable with your team year-in, year-out and this year I’m not the guy that talks in the room and stuff like that but on the ice I want to play like a veteran and help this team.”

If the Lightning want to make a run back to the postseason, they’re going to need Drouin playing the way he did Monday. The team has underachieved at 21-20-4 this season and has looked for any kind of spark since captain Steven Stamkos suffered a tear in his lateral meniscus on Nov. 15. Tampa has gone 11-14-3 following Stamkos’ injury and he’s expected to be out until mid-March at the earliest.

The Lightning made last year’s Eastern Conference Final with an injured Stamkos playing just one playoff game.

“We needed a big win. It was a big challenge, but we needed to respond to the challenge like we did. I think everybody contributed. Everybody put forth quite an effort,” Boyle said. “Sometimes you get a bounce and sometimes you don’t. The last three games I think we’ve started to play to our habits and make sure we’re doing the right things structurally. It’s hard to win in this league but those are the bare minimum things and we’re starting to see that consistently.”

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Josh Cooper is an editor for Puck Daddy on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @joshuacooper

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