Lightning drop regular-season finale to Rangers while resting regulars

There wasn't anything on the line for the Lightning as they closed out the regular season Wednesday night against the Rangers at Benchmark International Arena. Going into Game 82, Tampa Bay's first-round playoff matchup with Montreal already had been set, and it had earned home-ice advantage for the series.

So, much of the 4-2 loss was procedural. It was more about the chance to get valuable rest for several key players who had grinded their way to the regular-season's finish line.

As soon as players finished throwing T-shirts into the stands and gave their Stadium Series jerseys off their backs as part of Fan Appreciation Night, the team wrapped a tidy bow on a 50-win regular season and immediately looked ahead to one of the most challenging tasks in professional sports: trying to win the Stanley Cup.

"Whenever you make the playoffs and the playoffs are around the corner, there's a different feel, a different scent in the air when Game 1 starts and the regular season's over," said Lightning forward Corey Perry, the trade-deadline reacquisition who has played in five Cup finals in the past six years. "It's spring, it's the best time of year. This is why we played the game."

The first-round playoff schedule has yet to be announced, but the Lightning likely will open their series against the Canadiens Sunday night (there's a concert scheduled at the arena Saturday) and get two practice days ahead of Game 1.

"Eighty-two games you play to be in this position, and then all of a sudden you flip the switch," Perry said. "There's a lot of guys in this room who have been on long runs and won championships, and they know what it takes. And you know it starts with practice on Friday morning, and away we go."

Resting up

The Lightning (50-26-6) finished with 106 points despite shuffling lineups through the season due to constant injuries. So, playing with a different lineup down to the final game was apropos.

"That's the one thing about this season," Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. "It's just been a never-ending, injury-riddled parade to the medical room. So, hopefully that is just during in the regular season."

The Lightning sat Brayden Point, Jake Guentzel, Anthony Cirelli, J.J. Moser and Ryan McDonagh, and even though Andrei Vasilevskiy practiced in the game net during the morning skate, Cooper gave him an extra day of rest and handed Brandon Halverson, who was called up earlier Wednesday, his second NHL start.

"It's hard, too, because everybody's banged up, everybody's got injuries," Cooper said. "And so that's why guys are sitting, because they're hurt. And then there's guys that were hurt and are probably still a little nicked up and want to get touches and get in the game and stuff like that."

Defenseman Darren Raddysh, who missed the past two games, was back in the lineup, and left wing Brandon Hagel returned after missing Monday's win over Detroit. The Lightning activated defenseman Max Crozier from injured reserve and called up forwards Jakob Pelletier and Mitchell Chaffee from AHL Syracuse.

"That was kind of what happened all year," Raddysh said. "We had a lot of guys injured. We had new guys in every other game. So, it's just something that we've been dealing with all year. And I don't think it was any different out there for us."

Going pointless

Nikita Kucherov did play, but his chase for a third straight Art Ross Trophy fell short. He finished the season with 130 points, four behind the Oilers' Connor McDavid, who has one more game remaining on Thursday.

The Lightning went down 3-0 in the first 25 minutes, with Tye Kartye scoring the Rangers' first two goals. Rookie Gabe Perreault gave New York a three-goal lead at 4:49 of the second period on a rising wrister from the center point that fooled Halverson.

Oliver Bjorkstrand scored for the first time in 19 games, staying with a loose puck in front of the net and beating Rangers goaltender Dylan Garand with a backhand shot with 8:45 left in the second for his 12th goal of the season and just his third at even strength.

Mika Zibanejad then answered with a goal in traffic from in front with 7:14 left in the period to extend the Rangers' lead to 4-1.

Perry made a nifty move to cut the Lightning deficit to two early in the third, spinning away from Will Borgen at the left circle and backhanding a shot past a Zemgus Girgensons screen in front and through Garand.

Halverson allowed four goals on 21 shots.

The Lightning's 106 points tied for the fifth-highest total in team history. Despite all the injuries the team faced, it finished second in an Atlantic Division that sent five teams to the playoffs.

"I just think we grew as a group," Cooper said. "I thought they did a hell of a job. Fifty wins, to me, that's a big number, and for them to pull through and get that, especially in the division and the conference we were in, which was elite. I don't know if I've seen a conference as competitive as this was from top to bottom."

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This story was originally published April 15, 2026 at 10:19 PM.