The FourCheck: Chasing Lord Stanley, injury returns and hungry NHL vets

It feels like just yesterday we were preparing for the 2025 Tampa Bay Lightning training camp or trying to predict which Bolt would be crowned with a Gold Medal in the NHL’s return to the 2026 Winter Olympics.

But now, we’re here. The 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs have arrived. 

Tampa Bay opens its First Round series against Atlantic Division opponent Montreal this Sunday with a 5:45 p.m. game at Benchmark International Arena.

“As a coach, this is what you want to do. You want to play in the playoffs. As a group we've never taken that for granted. As much as our team has changed, especially since our trips to the Cup, this group, they just seem to find a way,” coach Jon Cooper said. 

“It's been unfortunate and probably a little disappointing that we haven't moved on out of the first round the last few years. But there is something to be said about getting there. It is a bitter pill to swallow when you get knocked out, but ultimately only one team wins, and we've been really fortunate to be part of that. But to be able to be that team that wins, you have to get in. Every single year these guys give us a chance, and that's super cool to be a part of.”

As Game 1 looms, let’s look at some Bolts storylines in this latest edition of the FourCheck.

1. Sizing up Round One

If the final regular season meeting between the Lightning and Montreal Canadiens was any indication for what’s to come in round one, buckle up and be prepared to be on the edge of your seat.

The April 9 matchup at Benchmark International Arena carried everything one might expect from a playoff game.

Lightning defenseman Darren Raddysh brought late dramatics, tying the game with less than two minutes left. Montreal’s Juraj Slafkovsky added to the craziness on the game-winner with only 64 seconds to go.

There was a fight and multiple misconduct calls among a message-sending 126 combined penalty minutes. The opening round for Tampa Bay will be physical while showcasing two of the league’s best teams this season.

Both the Lightning and Canadiens finished with 106 standings points, tied for fifth-most of any NHL squad. Tampa Bay’s 50 wins tied for third, and Montreal had 48.

"They're going to be pumped,” McDonagh said of the Canadiens. “They're a high-flying, skilled team. They have great depth and they’re very well coached, so it will be a tough challenge. It’s going to be a tight series. We've got to make sure we're ready to go."

Fans should expect plenty of offense—the Canadiens scored 279 goals this season, fewer than only five NHL teams. One of those teams was Tampa Bay, scoring 286 goals.

Tampa Bay’s 3.49 goals per game were fourth-most in the league, and Montreal’s 3.40 rate stood seventh. Both rank among the league’s top 5-on-5 attacks.

The Lightning could hold the advantage on defense, as Tampa Bay held opponents to 2.79 goals per game in the regular season, which marked the third-fewest of any team. The Canadiens ranked 16th (3.06). Only two teams—both in the Western Conference—allowed fewer goals than the Lightning this season.

Tampa Bay’s penalty kill was efficient this season, and it had to be with the team leading the NHL in penalty minutes and penalties taken. They killed 82.6% of opposing power plays, the third-best rate of any franchise.

That penalty kill will need to be just as good in the first round against a Canadiens power play that finished 10th in the league by scoring on 22.6% of its opportunities.

Nikita Kucherov’s 130 points were the second-most in the NHL, and Montreal had a 100-point scorer of their own in captain Nick Suzuki, who had 29 goals and 101 points.

The Canadiens had one of just two 50-goal scorers in the NHL this season in Cole Caufield while Tampa Bay spread its goalscoring and still had some of the most frequent scorers—Kucherov’s 44 goals tied for seventh in the NHL, while Jake Guentzel (38) and Brandon Hagel (36) were each inside the top 25.

Both teams also boast a pair of offensive weapons on the blue line in defensemen Darren Raddysh and Lane Hutson—Raddysh’s 22 goals were third-most by an NHL blueliner this season, and Montreal’s Dobson tied for third in defensive scoring with 78 points. Tampa Bay will be helped by a cluster of defensemen who posted high defensive metrics, including JJ Moser, Erik Cernak, Ryan McDonagh and others.

And of course, the Lightning have goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy, who is among the NHL’s active leaders in playoff experience and wins. His 39 wins this season led all goalies, and his 2.30 goals against average was second-best.

Montreal’s Jakub Dobes led rookie goalies with 29 wins and had a .901 save percentage.

2. Crozier, James eager for timely returns to Lightning mix

Lightning practices in recent weeks have included the reintroduction of forward Dominic James and defenseman Max Crozier following longterm injuries–James missed the final 24 games of the regular season with a lower-body injury after an awkward fall during a Feb. 28 game, while Crozier also missed 20-plus games.

James has participated in off-ice workouts while getting back into skates as he works back. That return could come as soon as the opening round against Montreal, and James practiced with the team’s second power-play unit on Friday.

“That’s the main motivator, right? I want to get back and get back to the top of my game, where I was at before I got hurt,” James said. "That’s been my motivation all along.”

This would mark James’ first time in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, and he can’t wait after posting seven goals and 15 points in his first 43 NHL games.

“I'm just trying to go into it with an open mind. The biggest thing on my mind is I want to be a good player for us coming back,” James said. “I've been out for awhile, but I can't wait to see the buzz in the city, the buzz in the rink and just to see the leadership throughout our room. These guys have been through it, and I'm just excited to be a part of it with these guys.”

James’ rehabilitation process was made easier by experiencing it alongside Crozier, who returned for Wednesday’s regular season finale in his first showing in 26 games.

Crozier recovered from a core muscle surgery earlier this season and finished with a goal and 10 points in his first NHL season. Tampa Bay owned 54.4% of shot attempts with the 25-year-old on the ice, the third-highest rate of any Lightning defenseman.

“I don’t think there’s any easy part the first little bit after surgery,” Crozier said. “Obviously sitting out is never fun. I think just getting back into it each day brought its own obstacles, but we have a great training and medical staff that did everything they can to get me ready for this.”

There was rest, and there was intense rehabilitation, both on and off the ice.

“I was able to get on the ice pretty early after surgery and really take it slow, which is tough on its own. I think all the guys in this locker room, we’re work horses, so it's not easy to be held back. There was a lot of being held back for the first couple of weeks, which isn't always easy, but our medical staff did the right job and got us right.”

3. Perry hunts title two

Corey Perry has seen it all over his 21-season NHL career, including some time in Tampa.

Now back at 40 years old, he remains driven by a relentless hunger to win.

“Whenever you make the playoffs and playoffs are around the corner, there's a different feel, a different scent in the air when Game 1 starts and the regular season’s over,” Perry said. “It’s spring, it's the best time of year. This is why we play the game.”

Tampa Bay traded for Perry on March 6 prior to the NHL Trade Deadline, a move the team felt bolstered its chances to return atop the proverbial league mountain.

The forward, who scored 17 goals and 37 points this season between the Los Angeles Kings and Lightning, has appeared in 237 career playoff games and won a Stanley Cup with the Anaheim Ducks in 2007.

Perry helped the Edmonton Oilers reach the last two Stanley Cup Finals after seeing the Cup Final in three consecutive years from 2020 to 2022, the last of which as a Bolt.

“I’ve been on some good teams and good runs in the last five, six years. There's a reason I'm playing this game. That's the why,” Perry said of chasing another Stanley Cup. “I've got a little guy at home that really wants to feel that thing at the end of it, so there's some added motivation there.”

Perry has been part of the upcoming matchup before, but on the other side—Perry played for the Canadiens during the 2021 Stanley Cup Final that ended with a Stanley crowning for Tampa Bay.

“That was a long time ago,” Perry said. “But yeah, I remember it. Everybody does. There’s a lot of guys in this room that remember it. But I’m here. This is where I want to be.”

Perry boasts one of the NHL’s most extensive postseason resumes. Still, he won’t take another chance at the playoffs—and hopefully a Stanley Cup—for granted.

That will require the execution of small details and hard work.

“You play to be in this position, and then all of a sudden you flip the switch. There's a different feel. It's the playoffs,” Perry said. “You know what it is. There's a lot of guys in this room that have been on long runs and won championships, and they know what it takes. It starts with practice on Friday morning, and away we go.”

4. Playing with Hart

We mentioned Kucherov earlier, and his impressive season deserves a deeper look.

For the first time in three seasons, the 32-year-old forward won’t be the NHL’s scoring champion. But he still made NHL history along the way and is deservedly in the conversation for the Hart Memorial Trophy as the league’s most valuable player.

Kucherov’s 130 points this season were 42 more than the next closest Bolt in Jake Guentzel, who posted a career-high 88 points. Kucherov became the 10th player in league history to record 130 points in multiple seasons.

Kucherov finished second in league scoring and trailed only Edmonton’s Connor McDavid, who scored 134 points but played in five more games.

The Lightning forward matched a career high with 44 goals, and his 92 even-strength points were also a career best. Only Colorado’s Nathan MacKinnon had more points at even strength, and Kucherov recorded 12 more points at even strength than McDavid.

“For me, he’s the MVP,” Erik Cernak said this week. “He's the best player. What he's doing out there on the ice, it's unbelievable.”

Kucherov posted the offense despite being the only top-five scorer who averaged less than 21 minutes of ice time per game. His plus-43 rating tied for third in the NHL, and he paced all players with 1.71 points per game. No player posted more offense away from their home arena than Kucherov’s 75 road points.

The Bolts veteran buried a career-best eight game-winning goals to tie for seventh in the NHL this season and marking the most among the eight players league-wide who notched 100 points. He was on the ice for 113 Lightning goals at 5-v-5, second-most in the NHL.

Kucherov’s career surpassed the 1,000-point mark in October, and he became only the second player in franchise history to score 400 goals earlier this month. He passed countrymen Alex Kovalev and Alexander Mogilny in career scoring this season, and his 1,124 points are the fourth-most by a Russian-born player in NHL history. 

Kucherov also became a top-100 scorer in league history this season and needs only 13 points next season to tie Steven Stamkos as the franchise’s all-time scoring leader.

“It's unbelievable,” Gage Goncalves said of Kucherov. “He's the best player in the world for a reason. He puts all of his effort, all of his mindset, into the game and he's been doing it every single night for a long time now. It's really special to have a player like him on our team, and watching him do it every night, it's awesome to watch.”

Don’t expect those numbers to slow this spring as his playoff offense also furthers his greatness.

His next playoff point will be the 172nd of his career, surpassing Peter Forsberg and tying Mario Lemieux for 19th-most all-time. He is five playoff assists shy of tying Jaromir Jagr to enter the top 10 in league history.

Away we go.