A tough fact of life is that lessons aren't typically learned by winning. It's the trials and tribulations--the situations that leave dirt under our nails and blacken our eyes--that we learn from. For a lengthy stretch of time, the Tampa Bay Lightning seemed like unbeatable titans. The Final Boss of the NHL. Back-to-back-to-back trips to the Stanley Cup Final will do that for a team's reputation.
But four straight losses in the first round have fans around the league wondering if this is the end of the near-dynasty. 2022 feels like a long time ago, and in terms of professional sports, it is. Based on what the Lightning's top players said in their exit interviews, the rest of the NHL should be on notice. This isn't an organization that is going to go away quietly. Their top players have learned some hard lessons in the most difficult of ways. In 2026-27, they'll be back even hungrier than before.
Take Brayden Point, for example. The 30-year-old forward was hard on himself when speaking with gathered media during the end-of-season media availability on May 5. "Especially in a series that's so tight, a couple of goals would’ve went a long way. A lot of that’s on me," Point said, according to Benjamin Pierce of the Lightning's official website.
Accountability can be hard to come by at this time of year. Excuses? Not so much. How often do players blame lingering issues or problems for their games drying up in the playoffs? Those are fair points to make, but Point wasn't having any of it. Despite dealing with injuries during the regular season, he insisted that he was healthy for round one against the Montreal Canadiens.
That's character. Tampa showed plenty of it during the postseason and continued to show that this organization still has a tremendous culture despite coming up short in the first round again.
Nikita Kucherov, who had a tremendous regular season, also struggled against the Habs. He wasn't willing to accept any moral victories for pushing Montreal to seven games or for all of those contests being decided by one goal, though.
Andrei Vasilevskiy was candid as well, stating that "[w]e all have to do our jobs.... But when one part of the team does the job good enough to win, the other doesn’t, that's how you end your season."
Lightning's stars sound individually motivated to come back faster and better than ever
Tampa Bay's top players aren't all on the right side of the aging curve, but virtually none of them should see their games collapse entirely next season, either. There's reason to believe that Victor Hedman will come back and be a force next October. Brandon Hagel was a torrential downpour of goals against Montreal, and he's just 27. Vasilevskiy is 31.
Spring chickens these players are not. And there are some tricky contract negotiations to hammer out for General Manager Julien BriseBois this summer. Still, the rising cap and desire to take another crack at the Stanley Cup are strong factors in play here. The Atlantic Division isn't going to get any softer moving forward, but this isn't a team looking to hang more divisional champion banners.
Those don't come with rings, and that's what this team seems hungry for.
To a man, the Lightning's top players didn't sound like a dejected group ready to blow things up. The Toronto Maple Leafs would do anything to have this kind of culture, where losing doesn't lead to moping and bolting town when accountability is required. Tampa was already a grizzled group, but this most recent loss to the Habs might be just what it takes to push this team back to the top of the mountain.
Or, at least past the first round.
It stands to reason that another shortcoming next year would lead to changes. Maybe it'd be behind the bench. Maybe a veteran or two would get shipped out of town. BriseBois has never been afraid to make those difficult choices, and that has helped the Lightning stay so competitive for so long. The smart money would be on them rebounding next year, however, if their comments and demeanor during these final chats with the media for the season are anything to go on.
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