No was ever going to catch the Tampa Bay Lightning, it was just the mathematics that needed to be satisfied before they could be handed their first Presidents’ Trophy in franchise history. And with nine games remaining — a good three weeks — left in the regular season, the Lightning became just the second team since the trophy began being awarded in 1985-86 to do it as quickly as they did in a 4-1 win against the Arizona Coyotes on Monday. The 73 games it took the Lightning has only been bested by the 1995-96 Detroit Red Wings, who clinched the trophy in 71. It should be noted that no team has won the Presidents’ Trophy and gone on to win the Stanley Cup since the 2013 Chicago Blackhawks. Tampa’s biggest task still lays ahead of them as they look to exorcise their playoff demons. There are still 18 points up for grabs, too, meaning that the Lightning, who are on 116 points after winning their fifth straight on Monday, can theoretically get to 134, which would set a new NHL record for most in a season (the Montreal Canadiens posted 132 in 1976-77). And before we write that off, realize that this Lightning team is something special and winning nine straight isn’t out of the realm of possibility. They could go 8-0-1 and still end with 133 points. Furthermore, they’re six wins back of those 1995-96 Red Wings for most wins in a season with 62. Tampa has matched or set all sorts of records this season, and their players have, too. A week after Vincent Lecavalier’s points record was taken from him by Nikita Kucherov, Steven Stamkos notched goal No. 384 in Monday’s win to pass Lecavalier for most in Lightning history. Scott Billeck is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line at phtblog@nbcsports.com or follow him on Twitter @scottbilleck<doc-sep>TAMPA – The Lightning is on what coach Jon Cooper calls a “magical” season. Individual and team records seem to be falling every other game. On Monday both fell on the same night. In its 4-1 win over Arizona, Steven Stamkos broke the Lightning franchise record with his 384th career goal and Tampa Bay clinched its first Presidents’ Trophy, which annually goes to the to the team with the best regular-season record. Of course, with the trophy comes a belief that the winner won’t capture the Stanley Cup. Since 2005, only two teams have finished with the most points in the regular season and gone on to win the Stanley Cup. The NHL's Presidents' Trophy annually goes to the team with the best regular-season record. The Lightning clinched its first with a 4-1 victory over Arizona on Monday night. [Photo courtesy of NHL.com] Cooper didn’t seem to buy the stigma. “Trophies are hard to win,” Cooper said. “They truly are and when you win one you should be damn proud of it.” Cooper went on to say one image dominates every June: Someone raising the Stanley Cup over his head. “But there are 82 games played before you get to that point,” he said, “and I know there’s a lot of teams in this league that have not won that trophy.” He didn’t take the achievement lightly either. “I look at it as a great accomplishment and a reward to the players and the fans for an unbelievable regular season,” Cooper said. And while the team may celebrate a great regular-season record, it’s the postseason that matters most to the players. “At the end of the day, a great regular season will be remembered somewhat, but we want to be remembered for what happens in the playoffs,” said Ryan McDonagh, who won the 2015 Presidents’ Trophy with the Rangers. “We've set ourselves up for a great opportunity here, and we've got to get through these last nine games.” The night was full of magical moments as Stamkos broke the record, Victor Hedman notched the game-winning goal and both Anthony Cirelli and Yanni Gourde found the empty net on shorthanded goals to give the Lightning the 4-1 win. “It was a good script,” Hedman said of the storybook evening. “We're proud to be the first team in Lightning history to win the Presidents’ Trophy, but it's just one trophy, aiming for another one obviously. It's great to have that accomplishment done.” After clinching the No. 1 seed and home ice through the playoffs, Tampa Bay has a new number: 16 points. Earning 16 out of the remaining 18 would give the Lightning the most points among Presidents’ Trophy winners. The 1995-96 Red Wings won with 131 points. That team’s 62 wins are still the NHL record, another mark the Lightning could break. Only four teams in history have won the Presidents’ Trophy with 120 points or more And the Lightning just did it with 116 points … and counting. Contact Mari Faiello at mfaiello@tampabay.com. Follow @faiello_mari.<doc-sep>The Tampa Bay Lightning defeated the plucky Arizona Coyotes 4-1, clinching the 2018-2019 NHL President’s Trophy for the best record in the league. As if that wasn’t enough, team captain Steven Stamkos secured the all-time franchise goal scoring record with number 384. In terms of regular season games, it doesn’t get much better than that. Before the game, the Lightning recalled Cameron Gaunce from Syracuse on an emergency basis. But he didn’t play, so whoever was questionable must have been good enough to play. Anton Stralman and Dan Girardi remained out of the lineup. First Period The first period was a slow one with the two teams combining to put the puck on net just 15 times. Arizona got off to the better start keeping possession and preventing the Lightning from doing much in the offensive zone. Alex Goligoski got the first good chance for either team three minutes into the game. He received a pass on the rush down the left side and had a good look, but Andrei Vasilevskiy made the save. The Coyotes got another rush chance later in the period. This time, Josh Archibald got free after receiving a pass off the boards and skated in freely. But Vasy came up big again. Arizona got on the board first five minutes into the period after a bad turnover in the defensive zone by Jan Rutta. The play resulted in a 3-on-2 ending with Christian Dvorak feeding a pass to Clayton Keller in the slot. Keller buried the shot and gave the Coyotes the lead. The next goal was the most important of the game. No, it wasn’t the game winner. But it was career goal 384 for Steven Stamkos giving the Lightning captain the most goals in franchise history. He passed Vinny Lecavalier, whose jersey hangs in the rafters where Stammer’s 91 will someday join it. The goal wasn’t a typical one for Stamkos. Instead, he deflected a Ryan McDonagh shot past Darcy Kuemper. It took a moment for everyone to realize who scored but once they did, the building went wild. Fortunately, a stoppage occurred a moment later allowing for the video tribute and for Stammer to recognize the crowd. Steven Stamkos tribute video for setting #TBLightning franchise goal record pic.twitter.com/fmYriG3EeP — Joe Smith (@JoeSmithTB) March 18, 2019 After the Stamkos goal, the game calmed. Neither team was able to generate much and the pace slowed with lots of choppy play through the neutral zone. The Coyotes got a power play as Mario Kempe got loose in front of the net and Alex Killorn took a slashing penalty trying to slow him down. The Lightning did well shorthanded and prevented any dangerous chances. The best chance of the period came to Michael Grabner with less than a minute left. He managed to slip free and skate in one on one with Vasilevskiy. But once again, the Lightning goalie made the save. At the end of the first period, Arizona led in both shots and expected goals. And by the numbers, it was one of the Lightning’s worst offensive periods this season. Second Period The Lightning played better in the second period than they did in the first, but the pace stayed slow. Neither team generated many good chances in the first period with both struggling to get through the neutral zone cleanly and finding it difficult to get the puck into dangerous areas. To the Lightning’s credit, they adapted to the style of the game and exerted more control over the territorial contest keeping the puck away from their own net and putting in more work in the Arizona zone. The first good chance of the period came to Braydon Coburn just over five minutes in. He was on the receiving end of a pretty passing play that started with Brayden Point and Tyler Johnson. Coby found himself alone at the left side of the net but couldn’t beat Kuemper. In the second half of the period, the Coyotes strung together a strong few minutes regaining some of the control they had in the first period. They had an extended shift in the offensive zone with seven minutes left but couldn’t generate anything dangerous. They threatened again with just under five minutes left, but this time, got some good looks at the net and generated a couple of dangerous rebound chances. Keller had the best opportunity after collecting a rebound with room to Vasilevskiy’s left. But he couldn’t get the shot away fast enough and the Lightning goaltender recovered. The Lightning responded with a strong shift of their own. The fourth line gained the zone and put some pressure on Arizona. Adam Erne fed a pretty pass to Yanni Gourde in the slot but Gourde couldn’t handle it and didn’t get a shot away. At the end of the period, the Lightning had regained the lead in shots but still trailed by quite a bit in expected goals as Arizona’s rebound chances were the best of the period. Third Period The game opened up a bit in the third and it started early with the Lightning taking the lead less than a minute into the period. Anthony Cirelli collected a Killorn rebound and slid the puck through the slot to Victor Hedman who buried it in an open net. The play started with good forechecking work from J.T. Miller and Cirelli. Thing got a little dicey for the Lightning at the five-minute mark as the Coyotes created chaos around the net, but Vasilevskiy did his thing again making a clutch save as the defense scrambled in front of him. The middle of the period featured several penalties. First, Cedric Paquette and former Bolt Richard Panik took matching minors after getting into a scrum. Neither team was able to do much at 4-on-4. The Lightning then got a power play with 11 minutes left, but weren’t able to take advantage. They nearly gave up a couple of shorthanded chances against the dangerous Coyotes penalty kill but managed to avoid disaster. Things really picked up in the final few minutes as Tampa tried to protect its lead. Mathieu Joseph had a nifty spin-o-rama shot from the slot but Kuemper made the save. A couple minutes later, Nikita Kucherov was hauled down from behind on a rush chance. The refs failed to call a penalty, which led to a chance the other way for Vinnie Hinostroza. With just under two minutes left, Stamkos took a delay of game penalty for inadvertently firing the puck over the glass. The Coyotes immediately created a good chance as Jakob Chychrun collected the puck after McDonagh blocked a Keller shot. Chychrun had space to aim at but he fired the puck over the net and out of play. With a little over a minute left, the Coyotes pulled Kuemper to get a 6-on-4 advantage. Instead, the Bolts took advantage adding two empty-net goals. Cirelli scored the first firing the puck from the defensive slot all the way down the ice into the net. Gourde got the second one after Vasilevskiy tried to fire the puck down the ice but didn’t get enough of it to get it all the way to the net. At the end of the game, the Coyotes led in shots and expected goals. Wrap Up This was an historic night in multiple ways. First, Steven Stamkos became the most prolific goal scorer in franchise history. And then, the team secured its first President’s Trophy with nine games still to play. The Fox Broadcast reported that not only is this the first Presidents’ Trophy in team history but also the first time any of the three major Tampa-area sports teams have ever finished with the best record in their sport. With everything locked up, the Lightning are now only chasing more history. They need four wins in their remaining nine games to get to 60 wins. And six in nine (nice) to match the all-time NHL wins record. Their pursuit continues on Wednesday on the road with a rematch of Saturday’s scrappy game against the Washington Capitals.<doc-sep>
The Tampa Bay Lightning have been the best team in hockey from nearly start to finish this NHL season and now they have their first piece of hardware to show for it. On Monday night, the Bolts locked up the Presidents' Trophy as regular-season champions for the first time. The Lightning defeated the Arizona Coyotes 4-1 at Amalie Arena to also clinch the Atlantic Division crown and the top Eastern Conference seed. The Lightning needed only 73 games to clinch the league's best record -- the second-fastest clinch in league history. (The 1995-1996 Detroit Red Wings only needed 71 games.) The win over Arizona was No. 56 for Tampa Bay, bringing the team's point total to 116 points with nine games remaining. As we head into the home stretch of the season, the Lightning still have a chance to top the league's all-time regular season point record held by the 1976-1977 Montreal Canadiens, who finished with 132 points in 80 games. Those who believe in curses and external forces may see the Presidents' Trophy as a bad omen for the Lightning, as the regular-season champs have gone on to win the Stanley Cup just one time in the past decade (2012-2013 Chicago Blackhawks). In fact, in four of the past five seasons the Presidents' Trophy winner has failed to reach the conference final in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. However, the regular season is a long, difficult grind full of hurdles and challenges, and the Lightning should appreciate this honor for their hard work and achievements in Games 1-82. They have certainly proved that they were, without a doubt, the most fearsome force in the hockey from October to March, but their biggest test is still to come. Tampa Bay has made a number of strong postseason runs recently, reaching the conference final three times, including one Stanley Cup Final appearance, in the past four years. However, they have come up short of the ultimate goal -- hoisting the Cup -- in each of those runs. Now, with the Presidents' Trophy in their corner, there's just a little extra pressure on them to go all the way.