TAMPA, Fla. — The Tampa Bay Lightning locked up home ice for the first round of the playoffs and sealed at least a second-place finish in the Atlantic Division without even playing a game. That’s thanks to the New York Rangers beating the Florida Panthers on Monday night.
Bolts defenseman Ryan McDonagh on the importance of securing home ice.
“Home ice advantage is nice,” he said. “It’s only nice if you take advantage of it. When we get there, we’ll have to see how it goes. No doubt we love playing in front of this crowd, and being able to start the playoffs at home will be a great feeling.”
The Lightning will play in front of that crowd for the final time in the regular season Tuesday night against the Panthers. Having already secured home ice, head coach Jon Cooper still plans to manage tonight’s game as usual.
“We’re not in a position where we can rest players or sit guys out,” Cooper said. “Our job is to put ourselves in the best position to start Sunday or whenever we’re going to play. We have two more games to play, and this is the group we’re going with.”
“I don’t think they have as much to play for. They kind of know where they stand in the standings,” McDonagh said. “We still know we have a chance to move up.”
With two games left to play, the Lightning still have an outside shot to win the Atlantic Division. Toronto would need to lose its final two games in regulation and Tampa Bay needs to win their final two games with at least one in regulation to own the tiebreaker over Toronto.
The Lightning host the Panthers at 7:30 p.m. at Amalie Arena.
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