TAMPA

Tampa Bay Lightning captain Steven Stamkos didn’t always see eye-to-eye with new Senators coach Guy Boucher, but he did respect the man’s innovation.

Stamkos was just young in his National Hockey League career when Boucher took over behind the Lightning bench for the 2010-11 season and led them to the Eastern Conference final.

“He’s a very intelligent and smart coach,” Stamkos said of Boucher following Sunday’s 4-0 win over the New York Islanders to finish off the best-of-seven Eastern Conference final in five games.

“He came in that first year and we had a lot of success.

“He had different ideas. Obviously we had that 1-3-1 system that kind of caught the league by storm and had a lot of success that way.”

Even though Boucher didn’t last long in Tampa, getting the axe midway through the 2012-13 season, Stamkos figured he’d eventually get another shot.

“He’s a really smart guy, great hockey mind,” Stamkos said. “You knew he was probably going to get a chance sooner or later and he got it, so good for him.”