Lightning Week Ahead: Schedule & Storylines – Finalizing Positioning, Momentum, and More

The Tampa Bay Lightning enter the final week of the 2025–26 regular season still fighting for playoff positioning, even though they clinched a spot some time ago. In this week-ahead piece, we look at what’s at stake playoff position-wise, talk about momentum, and break down the schedule.

Lightning Looking to Finalize Playoff Positioning

The Lightning have two games left. With the team already having clinched a top-three spot in the Atlantic Division, it’s now about finalizing positioning.

Tampa Bay had a chance to cement itself as the division leader last week, but a poor stretch has hurt those odds. Now, the team is just fighting to be at home to start the postseason.

Related: Lightning’s Potential 1st-Round Playoff Matchups

Fortunately, the Lightning have a fairly light two-game schedule, facing the Detroit Red Wings and New York Rangers at home. Winning both of those games guarantees them at least a second-place spot in the division.

The Lightning should be shooting for regulation wins. In the event that they win both contests in regulation, taking the Atlantic Division crown would be far from unrealistic. All that would need to happen is for the Buffalo Sabres to be held to two or fewer points in their last two games. They face the Chicago Blackhawks and Dallas Stars, but the latter will likely rest their best players.

If the Sabres close out strong, the Lightning will have a date with the Canadiens. At this point, that should be the assumption.

Lightning Could Use Some Momentum Entering the Playoffs

From my memory, there isn’t a ton of meaningful correlation between entering the playoffs on a skid and being bounced early. Just look at the Stars last season—they were awful at the end but made it to the Western Conference Final. Still, the Lightning will want to turn this ship around.

Tampa Bay has dropped three of its past four games, all in regulation. It’s slightly discouraging that these were Atlantic Division playoff teams. So, it’d be nice for someone like Nikita Kucherov to have a big game and the other stars to join in, establishing some more confidence heading into the postseason.

Again, it doesn’t really matter if you enter the playoffs on a skid. We all know what the Lightning are capable of. But a dominant performance or two from the big guns would be great to see.

Lightning Schedule April 13–19