ESPN NHL

After winning the Southeast Division championship in 2002-03 and advancing to the second round for the first time in franchise history, it's not such a big surprise that the Tampa Bay Lightning are co-leaders of the Eastern Conference a little more than a month into the season.

While goalie Nikolai Khabibulin and star forwards Vincent Lecavalier, Martin St. Louis, Brad Richards and Cory Stillman get their share of the credit for the hottest start in the league (8-1-2-1), the Lightning's defense goes mostly unnoticed outside of Tampa.

Khabibulin and John Grahame have been spectacular in net, but they've had a lot of help to compile the best goals-against average in the league (1.67). In the absence of a single dominating blue-liner who plays around 30 minutes a game like Detroit's Nicklas Lidstrom or St. Louis' Chris Pronger, Lightning head coach John Tortorella calls it a "defense by committee."

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