{"id":531378,"date":"2026-03-30T17:49:15","date_gmt":"2026-03-30T17:49:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/531378\/"},"modified":"2026-03-30T17:49:15","modified_gmt":"2026-03-30T17:49:15","slug":"tampa-bay-lightning-week-ahead-schedule-storylines-no-1-seed-jack-adams-award-and-more-the-hockey-writers-tampa-bay-lightning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/531378\/","title":{"rendered":"Tampa Bay Lightning Week Ahead: Schedule & Storylines \u2013 No. 1 Seed, Jack Adams Award, and More – The Hockey Writers – Tampa Bay Lightning"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Tampa Bay Lightning<\/a> continue to roll, going 3\u20130\u20131 in last week\u2019s four-game slate. In this week-ahead piece, we look at how the team ranks first in the Eastern Conference, head coach Jon Cooper<\/a>\u2018s Jack Adams Award case, and the schedule that awaits them.<\/p>\n

Lightning Occupy East\u2019s No. 1 Seed<\/p>\n

From Feb. 26 to March 14, the Lightning went on a dreadful 2\u20137\u20130 run. But ever since, they\u2019ve been on an eight-game point streak, winning six of those contests in regulation. As a result, they occupy the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference, via a tiebreaker over the Buffalo Sabres and Carolina Hurricanes.<\/p>\n

The race for home-ice advantage through playoff rounds 1\u20133 is far from over, with nine regular-season games remaining. However, the Lightning have put themselves in an excellent spot. Their schedule is tough, and they have a must-win contest vs. the Sabres on April 6, but things are good right now.<\/p>\n

Related: Lightning Star Nikita Kucherov Has Shot at NHL History<\/a><\/p>\n

Hart Trophy candidate Nikita Kucherov<\/a> missed two games last week, but that didn\u2019t stop Tampa Bay. Jake Guentzel led the way with four goals and four assists, while Charle-\u00c9douard D\u2019Astous and Brandon Hagel had six points apiece. Darren Raddysh was also solid<\/a>, recording one goal and four helpers.<\/p>\n

Between the pipes, Andrei Vasilevskiy only performed passably with a .875 save percentage and 2.96 goals-against average across three games. Jonas Johansson, on the other hand, turned aside 29 of 31 shots in a 3\u20132 win over the playoff hopeful Nashville Predators<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Jon Cooper\u2019s Hunt for His First Jack Adams Award<\/p>\n

With the Lightning back to their winning ways, head coach Cooper\u2019s odds of winning his first-ever Jack Adams Award should receive a bump. On March 9, NHL.com writers were polled<\/a> and named him the top dog in the fight.<\/p>\n

\"JonJon Cooper, Tampa Bay Lightning (Amy Irvin<\/a> \/ The Hockey Writers)<\/p>\n

Right now, the race for the Jack Adams Award seems to be neck-and-neck between Cooper and Sabres bench boss Lindy Ruff. It\u2019s definitely possible that the winner of the Atlantic Division takes home the hardware.<\/p>\n

As the league\u2019s longest-tenured head coach, a two-time Stanley Cup champion, and a four-time Eastern Conference champion, the fact that Cooper hasn\u2019t been deemed the \u201cCoach of the Year\u201d should probably call for a complete overhaul of how the Jack Adams Award is voted on. Mini-rants aside, though, he\u2019s in a prime position to win his first.<\/p>\n

Lightning Schedule March 30\u2013April 5<\/p>\n

DateTime (EDT)Opponent (Record)LocationTuesday, March 317 p.m.vs. Montreal Canadiens (42\u201321\u201310)Benchmark International ArenaThursday, April 27 p.m.vs. Pittsburgh Penguins (36\u201321\u201316)Benchmark International ArenaSaturday, April 45 p.m.vs. Boston Bruins (42\u201324\u20138)Benchmark International Arena<\/p>\n

\"SUBSCRIBE<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/a>
\n<\/p>\n

<\/a>
\n<\/p>\n

<\/a>
\n<\/p>\n

<\/a>
\n<\/p>\n

<\/a>
\n<\/p>\n

<\/a>
\n<\/p>\n

<\/a>
\n<\/p>\n

<\/a>
\n<\/p>\n

<\/a>
\n<\/p>\n

<\/a>
\n<\/p>\n

<\/a>
\n<\/p>\n

<\/a>
\n<\/p>\n

<\/a>
\n<\/p>\n

<\/a>
\n<\/p>\n

<\/a>
\n<\/p>\n

<\/a>
\n<\/p>\n

<\/a>
\n<\/p>\n

<\/a>
\n<\/p>\n

<\/a>
\n<\/p>\n

<\/a>
\n<\/p>\n

<\/a>
\n<\/p>\n

<\/a>
\n<\/p>\n

<\/a>
\n<\/p>\n

<\/a>
\n<\/p>\n

<\/a>
\n<\/p>\n

<\/a>
\n<\/p>\n

<\/a>
\n<\/p>\n

<\/a>
\n<\/p>\n

<\/a>
\n<\/p>\n

<\/a>
\n<\/p>\n

<\/a>
\n<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Tampa Bay Lightning continue to roll, going 3\u20130\u20131 in last week\u2019s four-game slate. In this week-ahead piece,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":531379,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5105],"tags":[5,2086,189,4,1335,540,92,5168,5167],"class_list":{"0":"post-531378","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tampa-bay-lightning","8":"tag-hockey","9":"tag-jon-cooper","10":"tag-lightning","11":"tag-nhl","12":"tag-nikita-kucherov","13":"tag-tampa-bay","14":"tag-tampa-bay-lightning","15":"tag-tampabay","16":"tag-tampabaylightning"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116319398219288576","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/531378","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=531378"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/531378\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/531379"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=531378"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=531378"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=531378"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}