{"id":542296,"date":"2026-04-05T15:58:17","date_gmt":"2026-04-05T15:58:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/542296\/"},"modified":"2026-04-05T15:58:17","modified_gmt":"2026-04-05T15:58:17","slug":"tampa-bay-lightning-week-ahead-schedule-storylines-cirelli-crucial-road-trip-and-more-the-hockey-writers-tampa-bay-lightning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/542296\/","title":{"rendered":"Tampa Bay Lightning Week Ahead: Schedule & Storylines \u2013 Cirelli, Crucial Road Trip, and More – The Hockey Writers – Tampa Bay Lightning"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Tampa Bay Lightning<\/a> dropped their first game of the week, but with back-to-back victories, they\u2019re at the top of the Atlantic Division with 102 points in 76 games. In this week-ahead piece, we look at Anthony Cirelli<\/a>\u2018s hat trick and what it means, plus the crucial road trip on the horizon.<\/p>\n

Anthony Cirelli\u2019s Hat Trick Signals Different Stars Are Stepping Up<\/p>\n

The Lightning are obviously loaded with talent. Hart Trophy candidate Nikita Kucherov<\/a> is capable of elevating this team on his own, but Tampa Bay is deep. When different stars step up, it instills confidence. Cirelli did just that against the Pittsburgh Penguins.<\/p>\n

\"AnthonyAnthony Cirelli, Tampa Bay Lightning (Photo by Mark LoMoglio\/NHLI via Getty Images)<\/p>\n

On Thursday, April 2, Cirelli recorded a hat trick in a 6\u20133 victory over the Penguins. After a loss to the Montreal Canadiens, getting back in the win column was much-needed.<\/p>\n

More than anything, Cirelli\u2019s standout effort proves that wins for this team can come from different places. Whether it\u2019s Kucherov taking charge, excellence from Andrei Vasilevskiy<\/a> between the pipes, or Cirelli showing out, the Lightning can win in different ways. They\u2019ll need that to continue, especially considering the schedule that awaits them.<\/p>\n

Lightning\u2019s Crucial Road Trip Ahead<\/p>\n

Between the Lightning, Canadiens, and Buffalo Sabres, the Atlantic Division is super tight right now. This week ahead could change everything.<\/p>\n

Related: Tampa Bay Lightning\u2019s 3 Stars Since Olympic Break<\/a><\/p>\n

Tampa Bay will visit the Sabres, Ottawa Senators, Canadiens, and Boston Bruins on the road over the next few days. There\u2019s some margin for error, but these are crucial games.<\/p>\n

The Lightning have 102 points in 76 games on the season, with 39 regulation wins and 44 regulation and overtime wins. The Canadiens and Sabres are right behind, with 100 points in 76 and 77 games, respectively. If both clubs can win on home ice against the Bolts, the Atlantic Division standings could look a lot different a week from now.<\/p>\n

However, that \u201cregulation wins\u201d and \u201cregulation and overtime wins\u201d tidbit is important. In a tiebreaking scenario<\/a>, the Lightning will almost certainly reign supreme due to those factors. So, they can theoretically maintain the top spot in the Atlantic even if things don\u2019t go according to plan. Still, these are important games\u2014perhaps a litmus test for the postseason.<\/p>\n

Lightning Schedule April 6\u201312<\/p>\n

DateTime (EDT)Opponent (Record)LocationMonday, April 67 p.m.@ Buffalo Sabres (46\u201323\u20138)KeyBank CenterTuesday, April 77 p.m.@ Ottawa Senators (39\u201327\u201310)Canadian Tire CentreThursday, April 97 p.m.@ Montreal Canadiens (45\u201321\u201310)Bell CentreSaturday, April 1112:30 p.m.@ Boston Bruins (43\u201326\u20138)TD Garden<\/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 dropped their first game of the week, but with back-to-back victories, they\u2019re at the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":542297,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5105],"tags":[243,397,5,189,4,1335,540,92,5168,5167],"class_list":{"0":"post-542296","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tampa-bay-lightning","8":"tag-andrei-vasilevskiy","9":"tag-anthony-cirelli","10":"tag-hockey","11":"tag-lightning","12":"tag-nhl","13":"tag-nikita-kucherov","14":"tag-tampa-bay","15":"tag-tampa-bay-lightning","16":"tag-tampabay","17":"tag-tampabaylightning"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116352932054743970","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/542296","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=542296"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/542296\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/542297"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=542296"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=542296"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=542296"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}