Lightning chasing Stanley Cup, not NHL milestones

NEW YORK -- It's not that the Tampa Bay Lightning players and coaches are against or hesitant about discussing their success this season and where it could rank in NHL history.

When asked, they answer, like this:
"We talk about it because it gets brought up," center Steven Stamkos said, "but we could probably care less about the regular season in terms of those types of records."
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Or this:
"We know we're having a good year, but it's still the regular season," defenseman Victor Hedman said. "We get reminded, that's for sure, about franchise records and League records and stuff like that, but we just say, 'That's pretty cool,' and we go onto the next game."
OK, so let's discuss the Lightning records and NHL records.
Even though they lost 4-1 to the Boston Bruins on Thursday, the Lightning have 102 points through 65 games and are pace for 129, which would shatter the Tampa Bay record of 113 in a season, set in 2017-18. Their 10-game win streak that ended on Thursday is a Tampa Bay record, and forward Nikita Kucherov has 104 points (30 goals, 74 assists), is four points shy of tying Vincent Lecavalier's Tampa Bay record for most points in a season, set in 2006-07.

More impressive, though, is how the Lightning stack up against some of the NHL's historically great teams.
The 129 points would be tied for third all-time in a single season with the 1978-79 Montreal Canadiens, behind the 1976-77 Canadiens (132) and the 1995-96 Detroit Red Wings (131). Of course, the Canadiens teams played 80 regular-season games and all three did not have the opportunity for an extra point in overtime or shootout. The 1976-77 Canadiens finished with 12 ties, the 1995-96 Red Wings with seven and the 1977-78 Canadiens will 11.
Tampa Bay already tied the 1971-72 Boston Bruins as the second fastest team to reach 100 points in a season, needing 63 games to do it, one fewer than the Canadiens from '76-77 and '77-78.
The Lightning also are on pace for 62 wins, which would tie the 1995-96 Red Wings for the NHL record.
"To hear that you're thrown in the same breath as the '77-78 Canadiens and the '72 Bruins, when you sit back and think about that, it is kind of cool," Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. "But you don't see it coming when you're involved in it until people bring up the historical background of what's happened. So when you get to this point, you say it would be pretty cool if we kept going."
That's the point, the reason why the Lightning players and coaches don't speak amongst themselves about what they've already accomplished and the history they could make, because none of it will matter when the Stanley Cup Playoffs begin on April 10.
The Lightning have 17 games as a runway to the playoffs. If they end up making history in that time period, it will only mean they will feel good about themselves going into Game 1 of the Eastern Conference First Round against whoever.
That matters.
"It's good to make history, but the most important thing for us is just be consistent and get ready for the playoffs," Kucherov said. "All these points, this talk of nobody has done it before, nobody cares in this room. If it happens, good. If not, who cares? Just do your best."
They have some tough games left -- one each against the Winnipeg Jets and St. Louis Blues, two each against the Toronto Maple Leafs and Boston Bruins, and three against the Washington Capitals -- but the Lightning's biggest opponent before the playoffs could be complacency.

They have a 17-point lead for first place in the Eastern Conference and a 13-point lead over the Calgary Flames in the race for the Presidents' Trophy. It's not like they have a ton to play for now, like most other teams looking to lock down a playoff berth.
"You can't have the mentality of, 'This is a playoff game,' but you can definitely work on details," defenseman Anton Stralman said. "Details, that's the key. You can't let anything slip."
There doesn't seem to be any worry about potential slippage in their game in part because of the lessons they learned last season.
After securing their League-leading 100th point in their 69th game last season, giving them a six-point lead on the Bruins for first place in the Atlantic Division and a two-point lead on the Nashville Predators for the Presidents' Trophy, the Lightning went 6-6-1 in their final 13 games.
They won the division, but by one point. They were passed by the Predators (117 points) and Jets (114) for the Presidents' Trophy.
It didn't hurt Tampa Bay in the playoffs; it knocked out the New Jersey Devils and Bruins in five games each before losing against the Capitals in a seven-game Eastern Conference Final, the third time in four seasons it has reached at least the third round.
Still, the Lightning didn't love how they felt going into the playoffs. It was as if they had to rediscover their game against New Jersey rather than just continue doing what had been helping them be successful.
This season, they're confident they'll feel differently when the postseason begins.

"It's just the feeling of, 'OK, this is kind of our time,' " Stamkos said. "We've been through a lot as the core of this team in terms of playoff runs, deep playoff runs, different experiences, but just the consistency of coming to the rink every day and wanting to improve and just wanting to win, it's very contagious around this dressing room in terms of the attitude we have coming into games.
"We learned from last year's team, when we kind of fell off in the second half a bit. We didn't want that to happen this year and so far we've done a good job. Any time there's been a loss, it's, 'Let's find ways to improve and go out there and just win.'
"It's kind of been our motto, find a way to win."