Tampa Bay Lightning Rank In Top 10 Playoff Wins Since 2000

Since the beginning of the new millennium, the Tampa Bay Lightning rank in the top 10 in Stanley Cup Playoff wins.

For a team that is in its 23rd year of existence in the National Hockey League, the Tampa Bay Lightning have had much success since it’s inception in the 1992-93 season. All of that success has translated into a few deep postseason runs and the ultimate prize in hockey, a 2004 Stanley Cup Championship season.

I recently read an article on Yahoo Sports NHL listing ten teams that have the most playoff wins since the year 2000.

And guess which team cracked the Top 10: that’s right, the Tampa Bay Lightning. The team has 59 playoff wins since 2000, including a stretch of four consecutive playoff appearances from 2003 to 2007 and the current one of three straight years beginning in 2014. The Lightning is one playoff win behind the Colorado Avalanche with 60 and three ahead of the next closest team, the L.A. Kings, with 56.

The Lightning is among some of the all-time greatest franchises in league history on this list and cracking the Top 10 is a fine accomplishment.

Let’s take a look at some of the memorable moments from among those 59 playoff wins.

On April 20, 2003, the Lightning won it’s first ever playoff series in a quarterfinals match-up against the Washington Capitals by a score of 2-1 in triple overtime. The team advanced to the conference semifinals, but lost in five games to the New Jersey Devils, which eventually went on to win the Stanley Cup. It was a good test for a young, up and coming team on the rise.

On May 22, 2004, the Lightning advanced to the Stanley Cup Final for the first time in franchise history after a thrilling 2-1 victory over the Philadelphia Flyers at the St. Pete Times Forum in Tampa. The team had worked so hard to get to that point and to move on to the Final was such a big accomplishment.

On June 7, 2004, the pinnacle moment of the young franchise, in its 12th year of existence, occurred inside the forum. The Lightning scored two goals, courtesy of Ruslan Fedotenko, in game 7 and won the Cup by a score of 2-1 over the Calgary Flames, a sixth seed that year.

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In the Steven Stamkos era, the Lightning swept the number one seed Washington Capitals in game 4 by a score of 5-3 on May 4, 2011. The team advanced to its second Conference Finals appearance in franchise history.

Finally, on May 29, 2015, the Lightning went into Madison Square Garden and upset the heavily favored New York Rangers, which won the Presidents Trophy in the regular season, by a 2-0 score in game 7 of the Eastern Conference Final. Goaltender Ben Bishop recorded his third shutout of the playoffs and the Lightning advanced to the Stanley Cup Final for the second time in franchise history. The Rangers had never lost a game 7 at home and neither had goaltender Henrik Lundqvist. It was one for the ages.

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As you can tell, there have been many bright moments in the 59 Stanley Cup Playoff wins that the Lightning have earned and we hope there are many more to come. This team has a bright future and this postseason’s run isn’t over just yet.