TAMPA, Fla. — New season, same flex for the Tampa Bay Lightning!
After defeating the New York Islanders 5-0 Saturday night, the Bolts clinched their sixth straight playoff berth.
And now, Tampa Bay will play the Toronto Maple Leafs in the first round of the postseason for the second consecutive year.
The Lightning still have five games remaining in the regular season, including a pre-playoff showdown against the Maple Leafs on Tuesday, April 11.
The question that remains for both teams is who will have home-ice advantage in the series. Toronto currently sits in second place in the Atlantic Division with four points above Tampa Bay and also have a game in hand.
The Maple Leafs control their own destiny. The best the Bolts can hope for is to get home-ice advantage by winning their remaining regular season games and Toronto drops a few points.
Even if the Bolts can sneak into second place, the team proved last year that they can still put up a fight against the Maple Leafs as Tampa Bay went to Toronto for a Game 7 and beat the Maple Leafs in a 4-3 series thriller.
The Lightning, who have appeared in the Stanley Cup Final each of the past three years and won back to back in 2020 and 2021, have reached the playoffs in nine of coach Jon Cooper’s 10 full-seasons with the team.
"I look at this group and they've done it in so many ways with different players yet here they are finding their way back in the playoffs," Cooper said. "The goal is to win Stanley Cups and you can't do it unless you punch your ticket [to the postseason] and once again they've done it. I'm really proud of the players."
Cooper's group are three-time Eastern Conference champions. He said the Lightning know what to do when the puck drops in the postseason and they can't wait to get going.
As for Bolts fans who are eager to see their team play some postseason hockey, ticket sales and watch party information is expected to be released once all NHL Playoffs dates and times are set in stone.
Tampa Bay will be back out on the ice on Wednesday, April 5, against the New York Rangers.
Don't forget to watch Bolts Breakaway at 7:30 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. every Saturday as Sports Director Evan Closky and Sports Anchor David Schiele get you geared up for all things Lightning and the postseason.