Lightning rookie Nick Perbix’s game grows with every outing

TORONTO — Even though Nick Perbix entered training camp on the short list of rookies who could crack the Lightning lineup, the growth the 24-year-old has shown in his first two months as an NHL defenseman is pretty extraordinary.

Just 24 games into his career, Perbix has earned playing time for being trustworthy with the puck, making the right pass and being responsible in the defensive end. His ice time gradually has increased, he’s now teamed with Victor Hedman on the top defense pair, he’s become more involved offensively, and he even saw his first power-play assignments this past week with Mikhail Sergachev sidelined by a hand injury.

“He’s cemented himself in our lineup, and that’s to his credit,” Hedman said. “He’s been playing some really good hockey, and he just gets more and more confident each day. You can tell he’s ready to take on a bigger role. He’s not overthinking it out there. And he’s calm with the puck and makes the right plays, and he’s just going to get calmer and calmer and more comfortable in his play. He’s got some really good tools, and he’s using them.”

Perbix — a 2017 sixth-round pick who spent last season playing his final season at St. Cloud State, representing the United States in the Olympics and getting his first professional experience at AHL Syracuse — admitted being a little overwhelmed entering this season.

But he didn’t show it. He’s been calm both on and off the ice. He asks a lot of questions, and he’s tried to take something from every member of the team’s defense core.

“I think it’s just kind of building,” Perbix said. “I just focus on maybe picking out one thing each game to really dial in on and then build off that on the next game and so on. This is still the toughest league in the world, and I can tell that for sure with the skill that we all play against. I definitely have felt more comfortable as the process has gone along.

“I mean, there’s just so many things (I’ve learned). And it started on the first day of camp playing with these guys and kind of going from kind of being in awe of them to now I’m just kind of learning from them, going up and talking to them and asking them questions.”

In Thursday’s 4-1 win over Columbus, Perbix skated a career-high 22:43, second only to Hedman. He also got his first opportunity on the power play, skating on the second unit in place of Sergachev.

“The one thing I think helps the transition for some of these guys, when you see that poise with the puck, the game kind of slows down for him,” Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. “He’s still learning. He has a long way to go, but that composure has really helped him here.

“Some guys, they just can fit into that NHL game because guys know where they’re going all the time, and he’s been pretty good at distributing the puck.”

Perbix gradually has become more comfortable jumping in the rush in recent weeks, even alongside Hedman, whose freestyle way of playing forces his partner to be acutely aware of where he is to make sure there’s protection in the defensive end.

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“Just positionally (Perbix) is very, very sound,” Lightning assistant coach Rob Zettler said. “He makes the easy plays. He actually makes hard plays look easy, in traffic and D-zone. He’s able to use the middle of the ice a lot and put it on a forward’s stick where they’re able to skate with it and come out clean. That’s why he’s playing for us right now, essentially, because he makes a lot of those plays.

“You’re starting to see him jump up in the rush and use his legs a little bit more to be that fourth man there on the rush, and he’s gotten some opportunities out of it.”

Over his last eight games, Perbix has 31 shot attempts, including 19 on goal. In his first 16 games, he had 31 total shots. After logging four shot attempts only once over his first 16 games, Perbix has registered at least four in five of his last eight games.

He earned his fourth assist of the season in Saturday’s 5-1 win in Montreal. With the Lightning up 1-0 just under 12 minutes into the game, Perbix was up in the play and saw a rebound come to him at the outside of the right circle. He flung back toward the net, and Nick Paul put in the rebound to give the Lightning a two-goal lead.

“I think that’s something we’ve all focused on,” Perbix said. “And I’ve just kind of happened to have been the guy in some of these games where I find the puck on my stick and we’ve got traffic in front, so I’m just gonna sift it through and try to create chaos, kind of like what happened last game with ‘Pauly.’

“It was just a good bounce and then bring it home. It’ll happen to all of us, but I guess I just happen to be that guy the past couple of games that I’ve had a lot of opportunities.”

Notes: Sergachev returned to practice Monday in Toronto after missing the past two games. ... Forward Rudolfs Balcers, who has missed the past 10 games with an upper-body injury, traveled with the team and skated following Monday’s practice.

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