Prior to the drop of the puck on Saturday evening, the Tampa Bay Lightning accomplished their season goal. Thanks to the Detroit Red Wings losing to the New York Rangers, the Lightning clinched a spot in the 2026 NHL playoffs. Then they went out and scored three third period goals to beat the Boston Bruins, 3-1.
If you ever need a game that defines the 2025-26 Tampa Bay Lightning season, it was tonight’s. If you’re looking for a detailed recap of the game – here ya go – instead, we want to talk about something a little less definable. Something a little more ethereal. We want to talk about how much fun this team is this year.
Sometimes, in the midst of the day-to-day, shift-by-shift coverage of any hockey team, it’s easy to get lost in the negative. To focus too much on the turnovers or failed clearings and forget about the bigger picture in terms of the game itself and the season. Did the Lightning play a perfect game on Saturday? No. Not even close. They were okay in the first period, and then things got, to use their coach’s word, “stale” in the second period. They couldn’t clear their own zone, Boston was taking it to them (1.75 xG to the Lightning’s 0.59 xG in the period) and eventually took the lead.
It would be perfectly normal to focus on that period and be upset, but that would be a bit unfair to a team that, while not perfect, has shown an ability time and time again this season to shake off a bad twenty or forty minutes and find a way to win the last period and, more often than not, the game.
Let’s face it, for all of their warts, this is a fun freaking team to watch. Just look at who scored their three goals and how they represent three of the best stories going for the Lightning this season.
Goal number one came off the stick of Charle-Edouard D’Astous. The very definition of a journeyman defender that has been all around the world playing hockey before getting a chance to play in the NHL. Injuries gave him an opening and he took it, posting 29 points (6 goals, 23 assists) in 64 games. We would say it was a heck of rookie season, but the 27-year-old is literally too old to qualify as a rookie by the NHL’s definition (must be under 26 on September 15th of the season).
If nothing else, D’Astous is following in the footsteps of the guy who scored the game-winning goal. Darren Raddysh may not win any individual awards this year, but his blossoming as one of the best goal-scoring defensemen in the league is going to make his accountant a very, very happy person on July 1st. Raddysh, who toiled in the AHL for years before becoming a permanent member of the Lightning, and didn’t even have a defined spot on the roster at the beginning of the season, just set the record for most goals by a Lightning defenseman in franchise history with his 21st.
Then, wrapping things up, Nikita Kucherov settled down a wildly bouncing puck to seal the game with an empty-net goal. He picked up 42nd of the season and 399th of his career. It was also his 125th point of the season, bringing him back within one of the league leader, Connor McDavid, despite playing in six fewer games than McDavid.
Speaking of continued greatness, welcome back Vezina-level Andrei Vasilevskiy. Would it be out of line to say the Big Cat stole this game? There is definitely a case to be made based on his play in the first two periods. Nobody in the league outside of the Tampa area wants to see Vasilevskiy back on form heading into the playoffs, yet here he is making all of the saves the Lightning need and then some.
There just seems to be something different about this year’s team then the ones that took to the ice in the last few. Maybes it’s the injection of some younger players. Maybe it’s an added sense of urgency or their penchant for third-period comebacks, but this team is just fun to watch?
Will it lead to a Stanley Cup? Who the hell knows? But chances are it’s going to be a fun ride along the way. Lets not lose sight of that amidst the momentary hiccups in their play.
The Goals
Casey Mittelstadt [15] (Victor Arvidsson, Pavel Zacha) 1-0 Boston
Charle-Edouard D’Astous [6] (Oliver Bjorkstrand) 1-1
Darren Raddysh [21] (J.J. Moser) 2-1 Lightning
Nikita Kucherov [42] (Jake Guentzel, Ryan McDonagh) Empty Net, 3-1 Lightning
Pretty Colors
#NHL Game Score Impact Card for Tampa Bay Lightning on 2026-04-04:
#GoBolts
— HockeyStatCards (@hockeystatcards.com) April 4, 2026 at 7:51 PM
Highlights