Lightning plenty motivated entering regular-season finale vs. Bruins
TAMPA, Fla. -- They find themselves in one of the most rare situations in all of sports: The chance to play spoiler as the secure favorite.
They can both end a flickering playoff dream and enhance their postseason position. They can both pen the eulogy for a rival's campaign and add life to their playoff momentum by dumping dirt on an old source of hurt.
The Boston Bruins will arrive Saturday at Amalie Arena gasping for breath, if they have any breath left at all. The regular-season finale presents the Tampa Bay Lightning with an opportunity to achieve a special kind of satisfaction.
They can build and tear down at the same time. They can create a smoother playoff path, with a possible Atlantic Division title in hand, before Lord Stanley's dance begins next week.
"I think we still have a chance for first place," Lightning coach Jon Cooper said after his team's 4-3 overtime victory over the New Jersey Devils on Thursday at Amalie Arena. "So it's pretty exciting to have that still an option."
It should be exciting to consider a division crown. It should be exhilarating to think about sticking it to the Bruins as well.
Remember them? The Boston Bogeymen of Tampa Bay seasons past? The group that owned a 10-game reign of pain against the Lightning before the streak ended with a 5-3 thumping March 22 at Amalie Arena?
Of course, events elsewhere may mean the Bruins' playoff chances will be dead on arrival Saturday. Because of its 4-2 loss to the Florida Panthers on Thursday night, Boston needs either the Ottawa Senators to lose in regulation against the Philadelphia Flyers on Saturday afternoon or the Pittsburgh Penguins must earn no more than one point total against the New York Islanders on Friday and the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday.
The Bruins need some combination of that tangled mess to happen, plus beat the Lightning, to reach the postseason for the eighth consecutive campaign.
"You can't just flip on a switch when you're ready," Lightning center Tyler Johnson said. "So we have to be playing our best hockey right now. We can't wait until playoffs. We have to fine-tune everything. It's definitely important."
The Boston test should be a worthy final dress rehearsal for Tampa Bay. Even if the Bruins' playoff fate is decided by Saturday night, they're not the lowly Sabres or the dreadful Carolina Hurricanes. The matchup should have a playoff feel, even if there's no chance the two will meet in the postseason. It should be a brass knuckles scrap, not a boring sleepwalk.
Then there's the division prize being dangled in the distance.
Tampa Bay can claim the Atlantic Division title with a win Saturday and a victory by the Toronto Maple Leafs over the Montreal Canadiens in regulation the same night. Think the fever this time of year doesn't captivate players? Minutes after the Lightning dusted off the Devils, a flat screen television in Tampa Bay's dressing room was flipped to the NHL Network. Later, after the room cleared out except for a few lingering reporters, center Steven Stamkos watched highlights of Montreal's victory over the Detroit Red Wings while chugging a sports drink from a large plastic bottle. Even Cooper fessed up to sneaking a few peeks at scores between periods.
"During intermissions, it's hard not to," Cooper said, smiling. "We've got 40 TVs in there. Games are flying on you everywhere. Yeah, of course, we were watching."
The Lightning can do more than watch others design their postseason fate, though. They're safely in as no worse than the second-place finisher in the Atlantic Division, but they should be greedy and place boot marks on the neck of a rival who's choking for breath.
"We're right there," Lightning goaltender Ben Bishop said of the Atlantic Division race. "It's kind of out of our control. If we play like this and maybe get a win (Saturday) and Montreal loses, we'll see what happens. But I think it's just important to play well."
That goes without saying.
But if the chance presents itself, if the opportunity for a special kind of satisfaction is there, burying Boston's playoff hopes would be extra sweet.
You can follow Andrew Astleford on Twitter @aastleford or email him at aastleford@gmail.com.
