The Tampa Bay Lightning clinched a berth in the Stanley Cup Playoffs on Saturday.
The Lightning got into the postseason with the New York Rangers' 4-0 loss at the New Jersey Devils.
Tampa Bay (44-26-6) is second in the Atlantic Division, four points behind the Toronto Maple Leafs and two ahead of the Florida Panthers after a 3-2 shootout loss to the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday.
"It's exciting," forward Brayden Point said. "It's a great reward for the hard work that this group's put in. Now it's about trying to build our game here. We don't have many left. It's really about trying build it so that we're ready for our first playoff game."
It's the eighth straight season the Lightning have qualified for the postseason. They lost to the Panthers in five games in the Eastern Conference First Round last season, the second straight season they lost in the first round. Prior to that, they had made at least the conference final in six of eight seasons, including winning the Stanley Cup in 2020 and 2021, and losing the Cup Final in 2022.
"A lot of different guys have come through here and worked really hard for that," Point said. "This group has come together and put us in that same spot. It means a lot. It's a great reward for putting in hard work. We're excited and it's just about building our game coming into the playoffs."
Forward Nikita Kucherov leads Tampa Bay and is second in the NHL with 112 points (33 goals, 79 assists) in 72 games this season. Forward Brandon Hagel is second, with a career-high 34 goals and 82 points, and Brayden Point leads the team with 39 goals.
Goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy is 36-20-3 with a 2.16 goals-against average, .922 save percentage and six shutouts in 59 games this season.
The Lightning are second in the NHL in goals per game (3.54) and fifth in goals-against per game (2.61). They are tied for eight on the power play (24.8 percent) and are fifth on the penalty kill (81.9percent).
