TAMPA, Fla. — The Lightning are playing like they’re ready for the postseason. And with two games remaining on the regular-season schedule, they’ll need this energy heading into next week’s first-round series.
Tampa Bay defeated the Blue Jackets, 4-1, on Tuesday night at Amalie Arena. Toronto (53-21-7, 113 points), meanwhile, defeated Detroit, securing the No. 2 seed in the Atlantic.
Boston (50-25-5, 105), the first wild-card seed in the Eastern Conference, defeated Florida and remains in contention for the No. 3 seed, trailing the Lightning (50-22-8, 108) by three points with two games remaining.
Here are three things we learned from the win.
Stars maintain firepower
Nikita Kucherov played with persistence as he battled Columbus’ defenseman Vladislav Gavrikov for puck possession in the offensive zone.
The winger wrangled the puck free and immediately found Steven Stamkos, who fired from the right side and sent the rubber flying past goaltender Elvis Merzlikins for the 3-1 lead with 12:31 remaining in the second period.
But the goal meant a lot more than just an extra cushion for the Lightning as Stamkos netted his 100th point of the season, a career-high mark for the 14-year NHL veteran.
Tuesday’s four-point night (two goals, two assists) was the fifth straight game Stamkos has recorded at least three points in a contest.
In addition to Stamkos’ milestone night, Victor Hedman continued to improve on his own career-best season. He reached 600 career points on Stamkos’ first-period goal.
This season, Hedman has posted 20 goals and 62 assists, combining for 82 points — all career highs. His 82 points are the most scored by a Lightning defenseman, and his 20 goals tied 2006-07′s Dan Boyle for the most by a blueliner.
Over the past five games, the trio of Stamkos, Kucherov and Hedman have combined for 42 points (13 goals and 29 assists).
Erik Cernak’s exit a concern
Lightning defenseman Erik Cernak puts up a good chunk of minutes on the team’s blue line night-in and night-out.
So when he took a deflected puck to the face — which already had some stitches from Sunday’s tussle against Florida’s Ryan Lomberg — off a shot from Columbus’ Jack Roslovic, there was some concern.
Cernak immediately dropped his stick and quickly skated toward the bench, grabbing a towel, before disappearing down the tunnel with less than 9:01 remaining in the first period.
Halfway through the second, the team announced he would remain out, forcing the Lightning to finish with five defensemen.
The team could start the first round of the postseason as early as Monday.
Revamped lineup
The Lightning rested defenseman Jan Rutta out of “an abundance of caution,” per assistant coach Rob Zettler. Rutta played 7:48 minutes against the Panthers on Sunday with only two shifts each in the second and third periods.
Rutta’s absence forced the Lightning, who have 21 players on their roster, to revert to 12 forwards and six defensemen for the first time since April 19′s loss to Detroit.
The format came back to bite the Lightning a bit when Cernak exited the game, but otherwise the team didn’t struggle. Defensemen Ryan McDonagh, Hedman and Mikhail Sergachev all posted at least 20 minutes of ice time.
