ARI@TBL: Lightning clinch Presidents' Trophy

TAMPA-- The Tampa Bay Lightning clinched the Atlantic Division, Eastern Conference and Presidents' Trophy with a 4-1 win against the Arizona Coyotes at Amalie Arena on Monday.

Steven Stamkos scored his 384th NHL goal to pass Vincent Lecavalier and become the Lightning's all-time leader.
The Lightning (56-13-4) have won five straight and will have home ice throughout the Stanley Cup Playoffs. The Lightning won the Presidents' Trophy, which goes to the team with the best regular-season record, for the first time in their history. They will play the second wild card into the playoffs from the Eastern Conference in the first round.
"Trophies are hard to win, they truly are," Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. "And I think when you win one you should be darn] proud of it.
"I know when you think of the National Hockey League and you see it every June that the Stanley Cup is raised over someone's head. But there are 82 games played before you get to that point and I know there's a lot of teams in this League that have not won that trophy."
***[WATCH: [All Coyotes vs. Lightning highlights
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Clayton Keller scored for Arizona (36-31-6). The Coyotes hold the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference and have a one-point lead over the Minnesota Wild.
Keller gave the Coyotes a 1-0 lead at 5:03 of the first period with a one-timer off a pass from Christian Dvorak.
Stamkos' goal tied the game 1-1 at 6:54 of the first period. It came on a redirection of a shot from the point by Ryan McDonagh. Shortly after the goal the Lightning ran a video tribute on the Jumbotron and it was followed by a long standing ovation from the home crowd.
"That's when it really hit me," Stamkos said. "I didn't really know how I was going to react, but definitely some emotions there. So thankful for all the love and support I've got from friends, family, teammates and coaches. It was kind of ironic that [Coyotes coach Rick Tocchet] was on the other side there, he helped me out so much coming into this League as a young player, so that was pretty special as well."

ARI@TBL: Stamkos scores to set Lightning goals record

Tocchet was the Lightning coach from 2008-09, Stamkos' rookie season, until 2009-10.
"When I was here, he was an 18-year-old," Tocchet said. "I mean, you knew he was going to be a leader and a captain. Proud of him. For me it's the injuries he had to sustain throughout his career. Those are tough injuries and he's sustained the level that he has. And you've got some pretty good forwards that played for Tampa [Bay] for him to beat so it's a great record for him."
Lecavalier said, "Steven is the best goal scorer in Lightning history and now he has the record to prove it. How he's gotten to 384 -- all the adversity, scoring from all over the ice -- and still managing to set the record in a relatively small numbers of games is remarkable and further establishes [Stamkos] as one of the top goal scorers in the history of the game. It's an honor to call him a friend and a teammate."
Victor Hedman put the Lightning ahead 2-1 at 19:16 of the third period with his 10th goal of the season off a pass from Anthony Cirelli.
Cirelli made it 3-1 with a shorthanded empty-net goal at 19:15 of the third period and Yanni Gourde added a second empty-net goal at 19:51 for his 20th of the season.

ThirstForTheCup: Lightning clinch Presidents' Trophy

Andrei Vasilevskiy made 28 saves for Tampa Bay.
Darcy Kuemper made 20 saves on 22 shots for the Coyotes.
"We had some good looks," Coyotes captain Oliver Ekman-Larsson said. "They didn't really have much in the first or the second period. I can't forget that we're playing against one of the best teams in the League and we matched them really really good tonight. So I'm proud of the guys."

They said it

"This is probably the most proud I've been of the team all year. Just the travel and coming here and the way we played. I thought we were very good tonight." -- Coyotes coach Rick Tocchet
"When Steven Stamkos was 10 years old, by his 28th or 29th birthday, whatever it is, would he think he was going to be the all-time leading scorer of a franchise? That's an unbelievable accomplishment. He's forever going to be able to say that. … Well, until another Steven Stamkos comes along. But they are few and far between." -- Lightning coach Jon Cooper

Clutch Performance: Stamkos passes Lecavalier

Need to know

It took Stamkos 737 games to break Lecavalier's record. Lecavalier scored 383 goals in 1,037 games with the Lightning. …The Lightning became the second-fastest team to clinch the Presidents' Trophy. The 1995-96 Detroit Red Wings clinched it in 71 games. … Keller has four goals in four games against Tampa Bay.

What's next

Coyotes: At the Florida Panthers on Thursday (7 p.m. ET; FS-F, FS-A, NHL.TV)
Lightning: At the Washington Capitals on Wednesday (7:30 p.m.; NBCSN)

Lightning beat Coyotes to clinch Presidents' Trophy