Perry enjoying postseason playing for Lightning instead of against them

TAMPA --Corey Perry is having fun being on the Tampa Bay Lightning's side in the Stanley Cup Playoffs this season.

After losing to the Lightning in the Stanley Cup Final with the Dallas Stars in 2020 and with the Montreal Canadiens last season, Perry signed with them as an unrestricted free agent last offseason and has helped them reach the Eastern Conference Final for the third straight season and sixth time in eight seasons.
"To be here doing it with these guys and to see what actually goes on on a day-to-day basis around here, it's pretty special," Perry said before the Lightning completed a sweep of the Florida Panthers with a 2-0 win in Game 4 of the second round Monday. "It's a pretty special group and you can see why they won back to back, and I'm just trying to help in any way I can."
Perry and the Lightning found out Monday they'll be facing the New York Rangers in the conference final. New York won 6-2 against the Carolina Hurricanes in Game 7 of their second-round series.
Game 1 of the best-of-7 series will be played at Madison Square Garden on Wednesday (8 p.m. ET; ESPN, CBC, SN, TVAS).
Tampa Bay will likely begin the next round without forward Brayden Point, who missed practice again Friday and hasn't skated since he sustained a lower-body injury in Game 7 of the first round against the Toronto Maple Leafs. Perry was among the players that stepped up in Point's absence against Florida.
Taking Point's spot in the slot on the top power-play unit, Perry scored power-play goals in each of the first two games against the Panthers and finished the series with three goals and an assist.
"Been doing it for a long time and hopefully he can continue to do that," Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. "That's why Corey Perry is Corey Perry. That's why teams want him. That's why he's sought after. But what's impressive is he's been able to prolong his career and continue to play at such a high level in what's becoming a young man's league."
A veteran of 178 postseason games with the Anaheim Ducks, Stars, Canadiens and Lightning during his 14 seasons in the NHL, Perry won the Stanley Cup with the Ducks in 2007, his second NHL season, and has reached at least the conference final/league semifinal round seven times.

The 37-year-old is sixth among active players with 50 playoff goals, including 16 on the power play.
Playing mostly on a line with Patrick Maroon and Pierre-Edouard Bellemare, Perry had 40 points (19 goals, 21 assists) in 82 regular-season games and has six points (five goals, one assist) in 11 games through the first two rounds of the playoffs.
When he was told he would take Point's spot on the top power-play unit, he realized he'd likely need to make some adjustments. So he sat down with Lightning assistant Jeff Halpern to watch video of what Point did in that position.
"I watched what Brayden did quite a bit, just where he stood, kind of how he finds that opening," Perry said. "It's a new position for me. I haven't played it much. I'm normally a little lower to the crease, but it's a work in progress and I continue to work at it."
The Lightning's power play did not miss a beat, going 4-for-15 (26.7 percent) against the Panthers without Point after it was 7-for-33 (21.2 percent) in seven games in the first round against the Maple Leafs.
"It definitely [stinks] not to have 'Pointer' here, but he will be with us," Lightning forward Nikita Kucherov said. "But if we've got 'Pers' in there and he's a Hall of Famer and he knows what to do to win and he saw Pointer through the year. He saw what he did. He's really good down there. So we didn't really change anything."
Perry has already accomplished so much in his NHL career, with 858 points (405 goals, 453 assists) in 1,176 regular-season. That included a League-leading 50 goals with Anaheim in 2010-11, when he won the Hart Trophy as the NHL's most valuable player.
But Perry continues to be driven to win the Stanley Cup again. That's what led him to sign a two-year, $2 million contract with Tampa Bay. If Perry wondered when he signed if the Lightning were satisfied with winning consecutive championships, a call from captain Steven Stamkos quickly made it clear that was not the case.
Stamkos was already looking ahead to the Lightning trying to become the first team to win the Stanley Cup in three consecutive seasons since the New York Islanders won it four straight seasons from 1980-83.
"You can tell in that dressing room that we're still hungry and the job's not done," Perry said. "When I got that call from 'Stammer' when I signed and he said that, 'We want to do this again. We're not done,' that stuck with me all season long."
The Lightning started slowly against the Maple Leafs in the first round and were on the verge of being eliminated before rallying for a 4-3 overtime victory in Game 6. That began a six-game winning streak that has moved the Lightning within eight victories of their goal of lifting the Cup again.
"Anytime you're in the playoffs, it's a blast," Perry said. "But from that Game 6 elimination game, we score, we get a little momentum and build from there. It's been good. This is why you play the game: to win and to have fun. That's all I'm doing is taking in all that."