Tampa Bay Lightning Clinch Home-Ice Advantage

The Tampa Bay Lightning clinch home-ice advantage in the first round of the 2016 Stanley Cup Playoffs with a 4-2 win over the New Jersey Devils.

Before heading into the Prudential Center in Newark tonight to take on the New Jersey Devils, the Tampa Bay Lightning had already made their way into the 2016 Stanley Cup Playoffs. The most interesting thing is their claim on the Stanley Cup Playoffs came as a gift from the Boston Bruins as they were defeated by the Carolina Hurricanes. In tonight’s encounter, the Lightning had an opportunity to attain a new achievement.

Should the Tampa Bay Lightning leave Newark with the two points tonight, the Tampa Bay Lightning will clinch home-ice advantage. The Lightning has had really good success when it comes to defeating the New Jersey Devils this season, but none of those other encounters are worth as much as a win in tonight’s game does.

The Tampa Bay Lightning opened up the first period in typical fashion. While they may not have hit the ground running, once the Lightning found their groove things really started to take off. One of the best parts of the period was their aggressiveness with the puck and their willingness to dig for rebounds. This is exactly how the Lightning ended up striking first blood.

Tampa Bay Lightning defenseman Andrej Sustr almost scored his fourth goal of the season, but ultimately Devils goaltender Keith Kinkaid would deflect the shot. Unfortunately for the Devils, Kinkaid would not be able to deflect the rebound. It would be Lightning right wing Erik Condra who would tip in the puck and give the Tampa Bay Lightning the early lead.

Unfortunately for the Tampa Bay Lightning, when they hit the ice for the second period of play the team would once again fall back on bad habits that should be long since forgotten. The Lightning allowed the Devils to control the pace for much of the period. Nearly halfway through the period and the Tampa Bay Lightning had only registered three shots on goal. This is not the way you play when you are fighting for home-ice advantage.

At 7:16 in the second period, the New Jersey Devils would tie things up with a goal from Devils center Sergey Kalinin. Thankfully, just over seven minutes later, the Tampa Bay Lightning would respond with a goal of their own. Tampa Bay Lightning center Cedric Paquette would score his sixth goal of the season to regain the lead for the Lightning. The play was so beautiful we almost felt sorry for Kinkaid. Note we did say almost.

In the third period, Tampa Bay Lightning fans both here in the Bolts Nation and all around the hockey world felt a serious disturbance in the force. In his first game back on the main roster, Tampa Bay Lightning left wing Jonathan Drouin scored his third goal of the NHL season to give the Lightning a 3-1 lead over the Devils.

We did say earlier that Drouin had a thing or two to prove if he plans on remaining on the Tampa Bay Lightning roster. As someone who lost a lot of respect for the young Lightning forward throughout the drama he caused this season, tonight’s goal, which ended up being the game winner, is definitely a good start to making his return a little more permanent.

As the third period reached the halfway point, the Devils would get another goal which would bring the Lightning’s lead down to one. The Devils goal would come at the hands of Devils center Sergey Kalinin with the assists from left wing Bobby Farnham and center Stephen Gionta.

When the final buzzer sounded, the Tampa Bay Lightning would defeat the New Jersey Devils 4-2. Not only would this complete the season sweep of the New Jersey Devils, but the two points the Lightning brought home in tonight’s encounter would secure home-ice advantage in the first round of the 2016 Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Tonight was far from a perfect game, but whatever you call it the Tampa Bay Lightning brought home a win. At this point in the season, now that their playoff position and home-ice advantage have both been secured, the Tampa Bay Lightning needs to concentrate on getting their team healthy, protecting their core players, and preparing to make an impact in the first round.

The Tampa Bay Lightning have a long road in front of them. While the Lightning may be able to get defenseman Victor Hedman back on Saturday night when the Lightning close out the season against the Montreal Canadiens, they will still head into the postseason without a number of their key players. If the Tampa Bay Lightning can focus on the task at hand, they have the depth needed at almost every position to make a solid run towards making a repeat appearance in the Stanley Cup Finals.

Next: Tampa Bay Lightning Recall Jonathan Drouin

On Saturday night, the Tampa Bay Lightning charge into the Bell Centre to take on the Montreal Canadiens in the final game of the regular season. While this game doesn’t matter a lot in terms of the outcome of the season, a win against the Canadiens will allow the Lightning to head into the postseason on a high note and allow them to really focus their efforts on making a strong showing in the weeks to come.