Steven Stamkos will not be supplanted as the face of the Tampa Bay Lightning anytime soon.

So believes Dave Andreychuk, the club's vice president of corporate and community affairs, who said as much on Sportsnet's Hockey Central on Wednesday.

"I still believe that (general manager) Steve Yzerman is trying whatever he can do to sign Steven Stamkos, and I believe it will happen," Andreychuk said.

"Even with all this going on, I think it will happen. He's been around the team, he's obviously on the trip here to New York. He's been very positive with the guys, so he's doing what he can do as the captain of this team."

"All this" refers to a blood clot and subsequent surgery that has kept Stamkos off the ice during the playoffs. Several players have stepped up in his absence, most notably Nikita Kucherov, who leads the postseason with seven goals.

The Russian's performance has led some to believe the Lightning would be fine without Stamkos, taking that cap savings and spreading it elsewhere.

Andreychuk, who won a Stanley Cup with the Lightning in 2004, disagrees, fully believing it's Stamkos that the team must continue to be built around.

From Hockey Central:

(Kucherov) is obviously a great player. I liked him at the start of the year saying, you know - he had 20-something goals last year - he says, "That's not good enough. I need to be a 40-goal scorer, a 30-goal scorer." So he's got that kind of attitude. ...

You need 25 guys on your roster to win a Stanley Cup. You don't win with a few superstars ... Yes, (Kucherov) is a good player. He's a very good player. But you need good players around him. And putting (Stamkos) in that mix, and (Tyler) Johnson in that mix, and (Ondrej) Palat in the mix and (Alex) Killorn and all the talent that we have, you have to put those all together.

You can't just break things up (and) hope that it's going to be successful.

Still, Stamkos will be an unrestricted free agent and command top dollar on the open market, and Kucherov, who need a new deal this summer as a restricted free agent, will certainly not come cheap.

"(Yzerman) has the cap to spend to and he's going to try to get everybody under that," Andreychuk said, admitting it won't be an easy task.

Whether it can be achieved, and whether Stamkos ultimately decides to remains in Tampa Bay, remains to be seen.

For the moment, Kucherov is doing his best to make sure people know the Lightning shine brighter than one player.

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Marcus Johansson appears set to resume play following a day off with an apparent upper-body injury.

The Washington Capitals forward will be available for Wednesday's Game 4 against the Pittsburgh Penguins, a day after being held off the ice with an injury suffered from a Kris Letang hit delivered in Game 3.

Letang was slapped with a one-game suspension and will make his return to the series in Game 5.

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Jonathan Drouin is writing quite a redemption story.

The eccentric Lightning forward found himself in the spotlight again Tuesday after Tampa Bay won Game 3 in overtime by a score of 5-4.

First, Drouin was victim of a colossal hit courtesy of New York Islanders defenseman Thomas Hickey. After leaving the contest, the winger returned to set up the game-tying goal in the final minute of regulation, much to the delight of head coach Jon Cooper.

"Pretty cool he was the guy that set up the game-winner," Cooper said postgame.

The 21-year-old has turned into a focal point for the Lightning due to his play, rather than the off-ice antics that soured his regular season.

"He came back to be a hockey player, and it's been a pleasure to coach him," Cooper said. "He's injected some life into our team. He's been great to be around."

Drouin has recorded eight points in eight games during his postseason emergence, and he's just getting started, according to his coach.

"The story's not over," Cooper added. "We're in the first couple chapters. This guy is going to write one heck of a hockey story for himself."

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Tampa Bay Lightning forward Brian Boyle will not face a hearing with the NHL's Department of Player Safety after a hit levied on Thomas Hickey of the New York Islanders moments prior to scoring an overtime game winner in Tuesday's Game 3.

Hickey, who laid a thunderous hit on Jonathan Drouin earlier in the game, will also not face a hearing.

Here's a look at the two hits in question, beginning with Boyle on Hickey, which Islanders head coach Jack Capuano called "a direct shot to the head":

And here's Hickey on Drouin:

Drouin was able to return to the game and set up a late, tying goal, while no update was given on Hickey by Capuano on Wednesday.

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For the time being, the Pittsburgh Penguins are Matt Murray's team.

The 21-year-old has emerged as the story of the playoffs, posting a 5-1 record thus far. His most recent performance was his best: a 47-save winning effort in Game 3 versus the Washington Capitals.

Related: Penguins must stick with Matt Murray

Although Murray was the center of attention after the game, Marc-Andre Fleury was the story prior to puck drop. The Penguins' franchise goaltender was cleared to play for the fist time since suffering a concussion March 31.

Fleury served as Murray's backup Monday night and will likely remain in that spot going forward, which he's okay with.

"That's fine. I haven't played in a month now," Fleury told Jenn Menendez of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. "What's important is us winning. Matty's giving us a chance to win every night he's been in there. I'll stay ready. I'll encourage him. It's not a personal game. It's a team game."

Penguins head coach Mike Sullivan is happy to have Fleury available and both goalies ready to go.

"He's a good person, he understands the circumstance and he rolls with it," Sullivan said. "As players, all that you can do is control that which is in your control. Good for us that we have a healthy Marc-Andre Fleury right now. ... He's going to do everything he can to make sure that he's sharp when the time comes, and we need him to help us win. In the meantime, he's doing a great job with Matt."

The Penguins' second-round series continues Wednesday night with Murray between the pipes for Game 4.

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David Backes is stepping up when it matters most.

Not only has the St. Louis Blues captain played a major role in getting the team to within two wins of the Western Conference Finals, he's also putting himself in position to pull in a nice paycheck at season's end.

First, the present

Following a two-goal performance in Tuesday's Game 3 against the Dallas Stars, Backes is on the verge of setting a team record for game-winning goals in a single postseason.

Overall, Backes has scored five goals and added three assists in 10 games this postseason. As a result, he's upped his point-per-game average to .80 from 0.57 back in the regular season.

And then, the future

Backes is flexing his big game muscles less than two months before his contract with the Blues expires. The 32-year-old, who's coming to the end of a five-year, $22.5-million deal signed back in 2011, is set to become an unrestricted free agent on July 1.

Prior to the trade deadline, general manager Doug Armstrong said it would be an injustice to his teammates to deal the impending UFA. This after Armstrong said he relished the thought of Backes playing out his career in St. Louis.

The rub, of course, is that Backes is only increasing his potential worth on the open market, possibly making it more difficult for the Blues to retain the services of the aging winger.

Be that as it may, his playoff performance to date is serving both himself and the team very well to date. Neither side is complaining, and the contract bridge will be crossed whenever the Blues' run comes to an end.

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Following a surprise run to the playoffs in 2014-15, the Calgary Flames regressed this season, failing to qualify for the playoffs and plummeting two spots to the No. 6 selection in June's draft as a result of Saturday's draft lottery.

After winning the 2015 Jack Adams Award for leading Calgary to the postseason, head coach Bob Hartley was fired Tuesday and now Flames brass is focused on turning the page.

Team president Brian Burke and general manager Brad Treliving share a familiar vision for the Flames.

As a guest on Sportsnet's "Prime Time Sports," Burke spoke on behalf of Treliving to outline their ideas for the team.

"He wants a physical team," Burke told Bob McCown and John Shannon. "A big, aggressive team. And a truculent team. I hate to use that term because it'll make everyone laugh but our vision is that we want that kind of team. We like that kind of hockey. Our fans like it and we think it's essential to winning in the West."

Truculence, of course, is a staple of Burke's lexicon. It was his vision for the Maple Leafs during his tenure as GM in Toronto, but the dream never came to fruition.

That could change in Calgary.

"We want to be a black and blue team," Burke continued. "A top six, bottom six type (of) team that likes it rough. A puck possession team. So plenty of skill in the top six. We think we have that core group here."

Calgary has skilled core pieces to build around up front in Sean Monahan and Johnny Gaudreau, but shoddy goaltending hindered the Flames all season long. Burke believes size was just as much of a factor in his club's struggles.

"We think puck possession is hard to come by and we prefer puck possession play to what we played, which was chip it in and go get it," he said. "We didn't have a big enough team to back it up."

A busy offseason lies ahead for Burke and Treliving, as the coaching market continues to grow and the draft approaches.

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The Dallas Stars aren't pinning a Game 3 beat down on poor goaltending.

The St. Louis Blues dominated Dallas to the tune of a 6-1 win en route to a 2-1 series lead on Tuesday, out shooting the Stars 39-26.

It marked the second game in a row in which Stars head coach Lindy Ruff was forced to make a change in net, but defenseman Alex Goligoski was sure to emphasize the loss should not be pinned solely on the goalies.

"It hasn't been a goalie issue, really," Goligoski said after the loss, according to Amalie Benjamin of NHL.com. "We're giving up some big chances at bad times, early in games. We're putting pucks in places we're not supposed to, and they've been a little harder on some battles and put them in the back of our net. Give (the Blues) a little credit.

"But losing confidence in our goalies is not an issue. It's our game. It's been that way all season."

The Stars have indeed struggled in their own end all season long, ranking 19th in goals against during the regular season while boasting the league's top offense. The defensive woes have carried over to the playoffs, and it certainly doesn't help that star center Tyler Seguin remains sidelined, further hindering the Stars from controlling play.

Still, there's no denying the dual-goalie setup - with Kari Lehtonen and Antti Niemi continuing to split starts - isn't working, as evidenced by the Stars' .889 save percentage, the lowest among the eight teams remaining in the playoffs.

The starter for Game 4 is anyone's guess at this point, but it doesn't seem to matter to Jamie Benn.

"We should be better as a group," Benn said. "That's the bottom line."

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