Tampa Bay Lightning

They're one point ahead of the Boston Bruins, with both Tampa and Boston having one regular-season game left. If Boston beats Toronto tonight – and with the ...

No matter if they play the Leafs or Hurricanes – both of whom have better regular-season marks than they do – the Lightning will be favored in many circles. Leafs starter Jack Campbell has had a yo-yo-type season, and if he falters early in the first round, Toronto’s backup, rookie Erik Kallgren, will be playing his first-ever NHL playoff games. When you win two Cups in a row, you earn that status of being a favorite. As it stands early Friday, the Bolts occupy third place in the Atlantic Division. They’re one point ahead of the Boston Bruins, with both Tampa and Boston having one regular-season game left. Andersen may miss the beginning of the first round, which would give Tampa a huge advantage between the pipes. And no matter how things shake out, the fastest, most-talented first-round series is going to involve the back-to-back, defending Stanley Cup-champion Tampa Bay Lightning.

Live updates from UBS Arena where the Bolts face the Isles in the regular season finale.

John Romano | A few other teams have been more impressive in the regular season, but the Bolts know what it takes to win in the postseason.

Even in this supposed disappointment of a regular season, the Lightning have 108 points. The grandfather suggests, instead, that they walk down the hill and eat them all. If they’re playing for the Stanley Cup a month from now, they were fooling us all along. So, yes, it’s entirely possible the Lightning were just waiting until mid-April to slowly turn the volume up to 10. Probably because the Eastern Conference is finally tired of playing catch-up where Tampa Bay is concerned. It’s the difference between playing Toronto or Carolina in the first round, but the Lightning are going to have a challenging road no matter who they play in the opener. This is who they are, the glitterati of the NHL. And, let’s face it, being the top seed in the NHL is more of a warning sign than an honor. Better than all three years when they won the Stanley Cup. Victor Hedman has a career-high in points and goals. Bettors in Vegas and elsewhere have taken notice, too. Steven Stamkos has a career high in points and plus/minus rating.

One last regular season outing before the real fun starts.

The Lightning will likely roll out their regular line-up and expect Andrei Vasilevskiy to be in net for one last tune-up before the postseason. If they win they play the Toronto Maple Leafs. If they lose (and Boston wins) they play the Carolina Hurricanes. Both will be tough, but winnable match-ups and both will start on the road. As tough as things have been on a day-to-day basis the Lightning have a chance to hit 110 points which would be the third most in franchise history.

The result of the Tampa Bay Lightning's last regular season game will determine whether they play the Toronto Maple Leafs or Carolina Hurricanes in the ...

The Bolts face the New York Islanders Friday evening on the road and the Bruins are on the road against the Maple Leafs. Here are the scenarios: As of right now, Tampa Bay is a No. 3 seed in the Atlantic Division and the Boston Bruins are the No. 1 Wild Card seed. The Bolts have clinched a playoff spot, but what seed they will enter as and who their first round opponent will be is still up in the air.

Find out how to watch, live stream or TV channel and game time information for the matchup between the Tampa Bay Lightning and the New York Islanders on ...

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The Toronto Maple Leafs will take on the Tampa Bay Lightning in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, beginning with Game 1 set to take place at ...

The Lightning are the defending champs. “That’s what I believe and banking on here as we guide the ship ahead.” They addressed talked about it in the summer and felt they learned from it, but their mettle was tested early this season when they started this season with a 2-4-1 record. “I was monitoring ice time more than I was monitoring the play to be honest. “I look at our group, I think the harder the better. The Leafs defeated the Bruins 5-2 in a game that saw both players rest a combined salary cap hit of $72,775,195.

That's the first-round mountain for the Maple Leafs now they're locked in with the Lightning. Despite home ice advantage at Scotiabank Arena, a record team ...

“But he’s a great competitor and he’d do anything it takes to win. “I think (that painful lesson) is huge,” he said before the Boston game. Article content Article content Article content Article content

The Tampa Bay Lightning are heading to Canada for the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs after a Boston Bruins loss Friday evening.

The Tampa Bay Lightning locked down third place in the Atlantic Division -- setting up a first-round Stanley Cup Playoffs clash with the Toronto Maple Leafs ...

For the Lightning, Steven Stamkos leads with two goals and seven assists for nine points in four games. In the season series against the two-time defending Stanley Cup champions, the Maple Leafs won two and lost two, including splitting their last two meetings. In three games against the Lightning, Auston Matthews is the leading Leafs scorer, with three goals and four assists for seven points.

Based on the 2021-22 season numbers, the Leafs have a slight edge on special teams and in their 5v5 control of shot attempts and expected goals; they have a ...

But it’s not the case as the Lighting, after a month and a half of .500 hockey that dropped them into third place in the Atlantic (10-10-2), have rattled off a 7-2-0 run in the past couple of weeks. Their power play is also clicking at nearly 33% in April (the Leafs’ is down at 17% this month). Based on the 2021-22 season numbers, the Leafs have a slight edge on special teams and in their 5v5 control of shot attempts and expected goals; they have a notable edge in goals for per game at 5v5. The difference in the goals-against numbers is entirely down to netminding: .909 at 5v5 for Toronto (27th in the NHL) vs. There was a massive gap in save percentage in favour of the Lightning. The season series between the two teams was an even split, although the Lightning edged the Leafs on points due to their overtime defeat. Look no further than Jack Campbell as the single biggest X-factor in this series. The series will start on Monday in Toronto with games to follow every other day from there. Anthony succinctly summarized the challenge facing the Leafs against Tampa earlier this week: “They can play any which way, and that’s probably the scariest thing about them. Given the margins are fairly tight across the board, at playoff time, it’s generally the safer bet to go with the more playoff-proven team with the better goaltending / goals against numbers (let alone one that has won b2b Cups, with the best goaltender and best defenseman in the league). That said, it is maybe noteworthy how the two goaltenders ended the regular season: Campbell is 7-0-2 with a .915 save percentage, and Vasilevskiy is 5-4-1 with a .904 save percentage (still, it’s Vasilevskiy and the Stanley Cup playoffs we’re talking about here). More pertinent, the Leafs have allowed slightly fewer expected goals against per 60 at 5v5 over the duration of the season (2.34/60 for the Leafs, 2.38/60 for the Lightning). GA/GP GF/GP

William Nylander scored twice and Ilya Mikheyev, Nicholas Abruzzese and Pierre Engvall had one goal apiece as Toronto defeated Boston, 5-2, in the final game of ...

“Hopefully, we can look back and say that was a turning point for us, but until that happens, you kind of want to block that out.” It is a lot of motivation.” “It is very important for me,” Spezza, 38, said. “Now 82 games are in the books, and we play for real.” It was the first goal and point of Abruzzese’s career and came in his ninth NHL game. “I look at our guys and I think the harder the opponent, the better.

Maple Leafs beat Boston Bruins in regular-season finale, will meet Lightning in first round of the playoffs.

“We solidified ourselves after a tough start. “I didn’t put any expectations on points or wins,” Keefe said. For Tampa, captain Steven Stamkos had nine points to lead the Lightning. Ondrej Palat was next with six points. In the most recent match last Thursday, the Lightning won 8-1 in a laugher at home. Sheldon did a great job all year of keeping us on task, game to game, week to week. The Leafs finished with a record of 54-21-7 for 115 points. Article content “It’s a massive challenge, it goes without saying,” Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe said. Game 1 of the best-of-seven will be in Toronto on Monday. Article content Article content Article content

Corey Perry, Ryan McDonagh and Brandon Hagel also scored for Tampa Bay, which trailed by two before scoring five times in the third period. Ondrej Palat added ...

... Hedman, Alex Killorn and Perry were the only members of the Lightning to play in all 82 games. Bailey converted on the power play with 1:12 left in the period. Chara scored on a slap shot with 44 seconds left to pull the Islanders within one. Parise, 37, became the only Islander to play in all 82 games this season. He also surpassed 100 points for the first time in his career, finishing with 106 (42 Goals, 64 assists). Perry got the Lightning's comeback started as he capitalized on a power play at 1:21 of the third to cut New York's lead to 3-2. Anders Lee also assisted on Pageau’s 18th of the season. New York (37-35-10) reached the Stanley Cup semifinals the last two years before losing to the Lightning, who went on to win the finals each time. “We talked about going out and just playing a good third period and trying to gain some momentum heading into the playoffs,” Stamkos said. “I think we stopped moving the puck, stopped skating. Jean-Gabriel Pageau, Kieffer Bellows, Josh Bailey and Zdeno Chara scored for the Islanders, who will miss the playoffs for the first time since 2018. Corey Perry, Ryan McDonagh and Brandon Hagel also scored for Tampa Bay, which trailed by two before scoring five times in the third period.

The playoff matchups in the NHL have been set after a busy Friday night of games. The Tampa Bay Lightning needed to lose their game to the Islanders, ...

He was activated from IR yesterday, and will start in their final game of the regular season tonight. The Leafs will be playing on the same night as Boston/Carolina, Minnesota/St. Louis, and Edmonton/Los Angeles. The other four series start on Tuesday and play on those off-days. Is Florida sure they want to keep him as an RFA? If only the NHL could maximize this kind of viewing all season long. By conference, the matchups are 1v8, 2v6, 3v5, and 4v7. Rasmus Sandin, who didn’t play in the last game of the season, is probably going to stay out as the team’s 8th defenseman. Sheldon Keefe has done nothing but project William Nylander will start on the third line away from John Tavares. We shall see if he reunites them for the first round or sticks to what he’s been doing. No back-to-backs, so the Leafs and Lightning will play every other day from Monday until next Saturday, if necessary. The Leafs haven’t been the home team in a playoff series (ignoring the pandemic) since 2004 when they beat Ottawa in seven games. Lightning in the first round. The Bruins also seemed very interested in staying on the Metro side, as they kept six regulars out of the lineup against the Leafs. The playoff matchups in the NHL have been set after a busy Friday night of games.

The Toronto Maple Leafs will face the Tampa Bay Lightning in the First Round of the playoffs this year, but who has the better roster?

Don’t get me wrong, it’s still a fantastic roster, but they don’t have the exact same amount of depth as they did. The Toronto Maple Leafs can’t catch a break. (Note: It is possible that last night’s games made it so the Leafs play Boston, which seemed very unlikely at the time of writing.

Corey Perry, Ryan McDonagh and Brandon Hagel also scored for Tampa Bay, which trailed by two before scoring five times in the third period. Ondrej Palat added ...

... Hedman, Alex Killorn and Perry were the only members of the Lightning to play in all 82 games. Bailey converted on the power play with 1:12 left in the period. Chara scored on a slap shot with 44 seconds left to pull the Islanders within one. Parise, 37, became the only Islander to play in all 82 games this season. He also surpassed 100 points for the first time in his career, finishing with 106 (42 Goals, 64 assists). Perry got the Lightning's comeback started as he capitalized on a power play at 1:21 of the third to cut New York's lead to 3-2. Anders Lee also assisted on Pageau’s 18th of the season. New York (37-35-10) reached the Stanley Cup semifinals the last two years before losing to the Lightning, who went on to win the finals each time. “We talked about going out and just playing a good third period and trying to gain some momentum heading into the playoffs,” Stamkos said. “I think we stopped moving the puck, stopped skating. Jean-Gabriel Pageau, Kieffer Bellows, Josh Bailey and Zdeno Chara scored for the Islanders, who will miss the playoffs for the first time since 2018. Corey Perry, Ryan McDonagh and Brandon Hagel also scored for Tampa Bay, which trailed by two before scoring five times in the third period.

TAMPA BAY - The Tampa Bay Lightning announced the schedule for their 2022 Stanley Cup Playoffs First Round series against the Toronto Maple Leafs today. The ...

Game 2 - Lightning at Maple Leafs on Wednesday, May 4 (Scotiabank Arena) 7:30 p.m. TAMPA BAY - The Tampa Bay Lightning announced the schedule for their 2022 Stanley Cup Playoffs First Round series against the Toronto Maple Leafs today. Game 1 - Lightning at Maple Leafs on Monday, May 2 (Scotiabank Arena) 7:30 p.m.