Bolts' Stamkos finding success beyond his years

Steven Stamkos required a special dinner escort earlier this season while the team stayed at the MGM Grand Hotel in Detroit.

As it turned out, all the eating establishments inside the hotel were beyond the casino floor, where patrons must be at least 21 years old to enter. Stamkos, the top overall pick in the 2008 draft, won't even turn 20 until Sunday.

While his age might limit him in certain areas, it has done nothing to hold back his success on the ice. Entering a crucial showdown tonight with division-rival Atlanta, Stamkos has already joined elite company with his accomplishments in a season-plus in the NHL.

In 133 career games, the 6-foot-1, 196-pound native of Markham, Ontario, has already surpassed 50 career goals and 50 assists while compiling 102 points.

He is one of only three active players to have reached the 100-point plateau while still a teenager, hitting the century mark at the ripe old age of 19 years, 356 days, with an assist on Friday against Anaheim. Pittsburgh wunderkind Sidney Crosby scored his 100th point during his rookie season on April 17, 2006, at 18 years, 253 days while the only other active player to do so will share the same ice tonight as Atlanta captain Ilya Kovalchuk scored his 100th point on Feb. 8, 2003, at 19 years, 299 days.

"I didn't know that, that's a pretty cool stat, a pretty nice club to be in I guess," Stamkos said.

When Stamkos scored his 50th goal on Jan. 23 against Atlanta, he became one of six players in the past two decades to reach the mark before their 20th birthday, a list that also includes Crosby, Kovalchuk, Rick Nash, Trevor Linden and Jaromir Jagr.

Even a 50-goal season is conceivably within his reach, if not this year - he's on pace for 44 - then at some point in what should be a prosperous career.

"The sky is the limit with him, he loves to score goals," defenseman Kurtis Foster said. "He's right up there with (Washington's Alex) Ovechkin in how excited they get when they score goals and that always brings an energy, the guys get fired up when he scores goals because he's so into it, it makes everybody else into it."

Maybe even more remarkable than Stamkos' numbers after 133 games is that after the first 40 games last season he had four goals and 10 assists. After averaging 0.35 points per game to start his career, Stamkos has averaged .95 points over his past 93 games.

That's a notable turnaround from a year ago when he started off his career playing six minutes in his home debut and was eventually a healthy scratch by the midway point of the season. There were times during the first half of the season when he began to doubt just about every aspect of his game.

"There are times where you feel like your shot doesn't feel good, your hands don't feel good, your skating ability ... when things aren't going well, you're not playing a lot and you are not producing, it's tough," Stamkos said. "But you have to try to hide that when you come to the rink and not wear that on your heart, and looking back now it was hard, I was lacking confidence a bit."

Lacking confidence is hardly a problem these days. Stamkos enters tonight's game tied for the league lead with 26 power-play points and 12 power-play goals, company he keeps in goals with Dany Heatley and Marian Gaborik. And with one more goal, he will reach the 30-goal mark, joining Vinny Lecavalier, Marty St. Louis, Fredrik Modin, Dino Ciccarelli and Brian Bradley as the only players to reach the mark in franchise history.

"He's produced in certain spots during games, he's scored some pretty big goals for us in the year-and-a-half he's been here and that says a lot when you have a 19-year-old like that," Lightning coach Rick Tocchet said. "You are always looking for that player who scores in big games at big times and he has that pedigree that he can do that. That's tough to find."

Enjoying the type of success Stamkos has to this point in the season is perhaps a bit beyond expectations considering his 23-goal, 23-assist rookie campaign. But it is something Stamkos felt he could attain, especially after closing out last season with 19 goals and 13 assists in the final 39 games.

"I don't want to sound arrogant, but I don't think I'm too surprised, maybe a little surprised, but you kind of have to believe in yourself," Stamkos said. "Obviously the second half of last season went well, you have that confidence ... and when you have that confidence in your ability, you feel strong and you know you are going to get the opportunity to play a lot right away, you kind of expect those things from yourself.

"When you are playing 20 minutes a night, you want to be a guy who can produce. But it's nice to see the consistency, and you are going to go through droughts, but to have the points I do now is definitely pleasing. I think I am maybe a little surprised, but you always have to have that belief in yourself and know you can be that player."