Following their 3-2 win over the Montreal Canadiens, the Tampa Bay Lightning were a little more relaxed in their post-game interviews. Coach Jon Cooper in particular was in a good mood, especially when talking about the penalties and his reactions.
Jon Cooper
On Max Crozier – “He has that in his game. That’s why Cro is in the league. Not necessarily all those hits, but he has that in the game. He’s a big-time gamer.”
On shuffling the lines – “We’re getting mass pro...
about 7 hours ago
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Two things happened on Sunday night that hadn’t happened in the series between the Tampa Bay Lightning and Montreal Canadiens. In a series that was tied for 71% of the time through the first three games, and within a goal the other 29%, a team finally built a multi-goal lead as the Canadiens were up 2-0 in the second period. Second, it ended in regulation as Brandon Hagel’s second goal of the third period gave the Lightning the lead that they would hold on to despite a late 6-on-4 power play f...
about 10 hours ago
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Game Four: Tampa Bay Lightning (1-2) at Montreal Canadiens (2-1)
Time: 7:00 PM EST
Location: Centre Bell, Montreal, Canada
TV/Stream/Radio: The Spot, ESPN, ESPN+, 102.5 FM, Lightning App
Odds: Lightning -115
Know the Opponents: Habs Eyes on the Prize
If there have been any constants in the Tampa Bay Lightning’s season, the first is that if someone can get injured, they will get injured. The second is that they have played their best hockey when their backs have be...
about 23 hours ago
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There really are no bad shots in overtime. Just over two minutes into the third straight overtime game between Tampa Bay and Montreal, Lane Hutson proved that as he wound up and unleashed a shot through a forest of players that somehow eluded every stick, elbow, skate, shin pad, and blocker before finding the back of the net to give the home team the 3-2 victory.
It was another tight game between the two teams that saw waves of momentum come and go for both sides. Montreal opened the scor...
Game Three: Tampa Bay Lightning (1-1) at Montreal Canadiens (1-1)
Time: 7:00 PM EST
Location: Centre Bell, Montreal, Canada
TV/Stream/Radio: The Spot, TNT, HBOMax, truTV, ESPN+, 102.5 FM, Lightning App
Odds: Lightning -122
Know the Opponents: Habs Eyes on the Prize
There are just certain sports venues that have a little extra energy to them. Notre Dame on a cool October Saturday, Yankee Stadium on a cool October night, Lambeau on a frigid January Sunday. Add Centr...
With two games in the books the Tampa Bay Lightning and Montreal Canadiens shift their series north to the Paris of North America. Lightning fans thought all was lost after a Game One overtime loss. J.J. Moser provided a dopamine rush with his OT winner in Game Two. With Montreal claiming home advantage for at least the next two games the only thing we know is that this series is coming back to Tampa for at least one more game.
It has been, to say the least, an interesting series. At time...
For a first career NHL playoff goal, an overtime game-winner isn’t a bad one to hang on the mantle. J.J. Moser exorcised the Tampa Bay Lightning’s overtime demons as he snapped a wrist shot past Jakob Dobes at the 12:48 mark of overtime to give the Lightning the 3-2 win. The series heads to Montreal all tied at one game a piece.
After their 4-3 OT loss in Game One, Coach Jon Cooper made a few line-up changes. Declan stepped in for the injured Charle-Edouard D’Astous while Scott Sabourin r...
On Monday, the AHL released their playoff schedule. Not only does that include the opening round match-ups, it also includes a few of the semi-final rounds as well, which means the Syracuse Crunch know when their post-season starts. For those not quite so familiar with the AHL playoff format, they have what amounts to basically a play-in series for their first round. However, the top seeds get an automatic bye into the semifinal round. With the Crunch finishing second in the North Division, th...
Game Two: Montreal Canadiens (1-0) at Tampa Bay Lightning (0-1)
Time: 7:00 PM EST
Location: Benchmark International Arena, Tampa, Florida
TV/Stream/Radio: The Spot, ESPN2, 102.5 FM, Lightning App
Odds: Lightning -192
Know the Opponents: Habs Eyes on the Prize
“We know we have better in us.” If you’ve been around the Tampa Bay Lightning long enough then you’ve heard the phrase before. Much like you’ve heard “Process over Outcome” “Turn the Page” and several other p...
There were a couple of unwelcome regular season trends that carried over to the postseason in the Tampa Bay Lightning’s Game One loss to the Montreal Canadiens. The Lightning were behind early. They came back to tie the Habs late, only to give up the go-ahead, and in this case, game-winning goal. The most unwelcome continuing trend was a Lightning player leaving the game early due to an injury.
Last night it was defenseman Charle-Edouar D’Astous who only played 9:35, leaving the game in t...
It’s not easy to sit down and answer questions fifteen minutes after losing a Stanley Cup playoff game. Heck, it’s not easy doing it after a win. Luckily, Coach Jon Cooper has a quite a bit of experience of doing both. Following the Lightning’s 4-3 overtime loss to the Montreal Canadiens, here is what he had to say to the media:
When asked if had a problem with the penalties and the way the Lightning approached the game, he chuckled and replied,
“No, I had a problem with us....
Juraj Slafkovsky took a big hit from Ryan McDonagh in the second period. After that, he scored three power-play goals to lift the Montreal Canadiens over the Tampa Bay Lightning, 4-3, in Game One of the first round of the playoffs. All three of Slafkovsky’s goals came on the power play as the Canadiens converted three-out-of-five opportunities.
The Lightning tied the game in the third period with their second power play goal of the game, but with the loss, they picked up their tenth playo...
Game One: Montreal Canadiens (0-0) at Tampa Bay Lightning (0-0)
Time: 5:45 PM EST
Location: Benchmark International Arena, Tampa, Florida
TV/Stream/Radio: The Spot, TNT, HBOMax, TruTV, ESPN+, 102.5 FM, Lightning App
Odds: Lightning -185
Know the Opponents: Habs Eyes on the Prize
The previews are done . We’ve talked all we can on how we think this series is going to go, and now it’s time for the action on the ice. After a long, fairly successful season that had a f...
We chatted about the forwards earlier today so lets take a look at how the Tampa Bay Lightning will line up against the Montreal Canadiens. Well, at least how we believe they will line-up. There are some question marks, none bigger than the status of captain Victor Hedman. Unlike the forward corps, where there is some doubt about which line will get the assignment against the Nick Suzuki line.
Also, unlike the forward lines, there has been some consistency to the defensive pairings. Until...
On Friday, the Tampa Bay Lightning did something they haven’t done for almost an entire month – had a long, almost fully attended practice. Due to the compressed nature of the schedule at the end of the season, the deluge of injuries both major and minor, and a coach that favors rest for his veterans over ice time, the Lightning really haven’t had a full fledged practice session since shortly after the Olympic Break.
The most encouraging part of the day was that everybody was on the ice. ...
With the final regular season games concluding late Thursday night (and having a bearing on the final Western Conference seedings) the NHL’s first round schedule took a little while to complete. In the wee early hours of Friday morning, it finally dropped. Along with the other fourteen teams left competing, the Tampa Bay Lightning and Montreal Canadiens finally learned exactly when they’ll be competing against each other over the next two weeks.
For those of you in the Tampa area who feel...
Despite the match-ups not being entirely set as the Western Conference is coming down to their final game for seedings, the NHL has released the dates (but not all of the times) for the opening games of the first-round playoff series.
The 2026 #StanleyCup Playoffs begin Saturday!
The one guarantee this year: There will be a new champion.
Tune in on /ESPN, /NHL_On_TNT, /Sportsnet and /TVASports. Full schedule to be announced after all First Round matchups are set later tonight.
Details...
We could spend the next 1,000 words breaking down the action of the Tampa Bay Lightning’s 4-2 loss to the New York Rangers in the final game of the regular season. However, nothing structurally or strategically from tonight’s defeat will carry forward into the playoffs. Jake Guentzel, Brayden Point, Anthony Cirelli, J.J. Moser, Ryan McDonagh, and Andrei Vasilevskiy were high-priced fans for the night. The loss didn’t hurt the Lightning and the win didn’t help the Rangers. So, it was meaningles...
Game Eighty-Two : New York Rangers (33-39-9) at Tampa Bay Lightning (50-25-6)
Time: 7:00 PM EST
Location: Benchmark International Arena, Tampa – The site of Wayne Gretzky’s final All-Star Game (he had a goal and an assist). Question – who was the Lightning’s All-Star that season?
TV/Stream/Radio: The Spot, MSG, TVAS2, ESPN+, 102.5 FM, Lightning App
Odds: Lightning -115
Know the Opponents: Blue Shirt Banter
Look at that. We’ve made it to the end of the season. It t...
With the Montreal Canadiens losing (in regulation) their final game of the regular season, the Tampa Bay Lightning have secured home ice in their first-round match-up that starts this weekend. Is that a good thing? After all, this is a team that is 1-7 at home during their last three playoff series. In case you were wondering, yes, they lost all three of those series.
What’s been even more frustrating is that the Lightning had been very, very good at home during the regular season. Over t...
It took 81 games to find an opponent this year, but after the Tampa Bay Lightning’s overtime win against the Detroit Red Wings, and the Buffalo Sabres’ regulation win against the Chicago Blackhawks, the playoff match-ups are set. Well, at least for the Lightning. Since Buffalo won in regulation, they hold the tiebreaker over Tampa Bay and clinched the Atlantic Division. So that means the Lightning and Montreal Canadiens will face-off in the playoffs for the fifth time in history.
While th...
It’s the next to last game of the season and that can mean only one thing – haiku recap time.
Like moss clings to stone
So do hopes for a title
Bolts in overtime win
The Goals
David Perron [13] (JT Compher, Ben Chiarot) 1-0 Red Wings
Conor Geekie [1] (Oliver Bjorkstrand) 1-1
Erik Cernak [3] (Ryan McDonagh, Zemgus Girgensons) 2-1 Lightning
Jake Guentzel [38] (Nikita Kucherov, J.J. Moser) 3-1 Lightning
Marco Ka...
Game Eighty-One: Detroit Red Wings (41-30-9) at Tampa Bay Lightning (49-25-6)
Time: 7:00 PM EST
Location: Benchmark International Arena, Tampa – Where the arena DJ once played “Don’t Stop Believing” after the Lightning beat the Red Wings in a playoff game and some folks got really mad about it.
TV/Stream/Radio: The Spot, FDSNDET, ESPN+, 102.5 FM, Lightning App
Odds: Lightning -200
Know the Opponents: Winging it in Motown
For the first time in what seems like forev...
In a game that resembled a lot of their recent efforts, the Tampa Bay Lightning finally found a way to pick up a win as Emil Lilleberg put home a rebound with 95 seconds left in the game to give the Lightning a 2-1 lead that they managed to hold. Andrei Vasilevskiy picked up another win as he stopped 19-fo-20 shots. Brandon Hagel returned to action and picked up his 36th goal of the season.
Prior to the game, it was announced that Zemgus Girgensons and Darren Raddysh would miss the game w...
Game Eighty: Tampa Bay Lightning (48-25-6) at Boston Bruins (43-26-10)
Time: 12:30 PM
Location: TD Garden, Boston – Where, in 1919, a 2.3 million gallon flood of molasses raced down the streets of the North End neighborhood at approximately 35 MPH.
TV/Stream/Radio: ABC, SNW, Lightning App
Odds: Lightning
Know the Opponents: Stanley Cup of Chowder
If there is one thing we know about this Tampa Bay Lightning team is that they don’t lack in confidence. So, we shouldn...