The Tampa Bay Lightning clinched a berth in the Stanley Cup Playoffs on Friday.
The Lightning (43-26-7), who were idle, reached the playoffs for the seventh consecutive season when the Buffalo Sabres defeated the Philadelphia Flyers, the Carolina Hurricanes defeated the Washington Capitals and the New York Rangers defeated the Detroit Red Wings.
Tampa Bay, 10-1-1 in its past 12 games, holds the first wild card into the playoffs from the Eastern Conference and is two points behind the Toronto Maple Leafs for third place in the Atlantic Division. The Maple Leafs also clinched a berth Friday.
"It's always different when you clinch when nobody's together," Lightning coach Jon Cooper said Saturday. "Honestly, I didn't even know we clinched until I started to get a flood of text messages saying, 'Congratulations.' So yeah, you're really excited but it's not like we're in the locker room or on the ice after winning a game. But a goal has been accomplished. Now it's the second phase. Prep ourselves for the playoffs and, hopefully, we're in a spot to make a good run."
The Lightning went to the Stanley Cup Final three straight seasons, winning the Cup in 2020 and 2021 before losing to the Colorado Avalanche in six games in 2022. They lost in the first round to the Maple Leafs last season.
Forward Nikita Kucherov leads the NHL with 133 points (43 goals, 90 assists) in 75 games. Center Brayden Point is second on Tampa Bay with 85 points (43 goals, 42 assists) in 75 games, and Victor Hedman is third on the Lightning and fifth among League defensemen with 72 points (13 goals, 59 assists) in 73 games.
Goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy, who missed the first 20 games of the season after having back surgery Sept. 28, is 29-17-2 with a 2.82 goals-against average, .901 save percentage and two shutouts in 48 starts. Jonas Johansson is 12-7-5 with a 3.37 GAA, .890 save percentage and two shutouts in 26 games (24 starts).
"The feeling on April 5 was definitely different than it was on, like, March 5," Cooper said. "But proud of the guys. It's something, going into this season, that is always our mandate is to make the playoffs. It just happens in so many different ways. Most years, we would've had a spot locked up by now. Did it a different way. But proud of how it was done, when you're in the heat of a race with five other teams, say, and we took charge and stormed our way into the playoffs. Pretty fired up for the guys."
NHL.com independent correspondent Wes Crosby contributed to this report
