TAMPA, Fla. — In a dressing room drenched in silence and populated by faces all expressing disbelief, the Tampa Bay Lightning hadn’t quite come to grips with it all.
This year was supposed to be different. They were the bad boys, they were hungrier, they looked so damn good all year long.
This was the season they would get back to their deep playoff run ways. It had to be. They felt it. They looked the part.
But a 2-1 loss at home in Game 7 on Sunday night to an up-and-coming Montreal Canadiens team that’s busted down the door to their contention window left Tampa completely bewildered.
Four years, four first-round exits. That is simply not their standard.
“For sure not,’’ Lightning center Brayden Point said. “I really like the way our team played this year. We were a close group and we thought we could go for a deep run this year. Obviously, Montreal is a good team and that was a heck of a series. Tonight’s tough. Just couldn’t get it done.”
They were unlucky in many ways on this night, outshooting the Canadiens 29-9 and giving them next to nothing.
But it still amounted to a one-goal loss in large part because of rookie netminder Jakub Dobeš, who was outstanding all series long.
So what was missing in another first-round exit?
“I thought maybe throughout the series we weren’t at our best for some games, we were giving up so many chances and looks,” center Anthony Cirelli said. “We have to dial it in for seven games each and every night. We can probably dissect and think about it a lot during the summer about how we let it get away.”
Four years is a long stretch for this to be happening to a team with annual Cup aspirations.
“Yeah it sucks, you don’t get any younger, that’s for sure,’’ Tampa star Brandon Hagel said. “I got one goal on my mind, one goal on my mind every single year … I just want to win, this sucks.”
No doubt this was a different kind of series than the back-to-back losses to the Florida Panthers in 2024 and 2025, where the eventual Cup champs really had their way with the Lightning.
That led to a lot of internal reckoning within the Tampa dressing room last summer and the Lightning came out swinging, literally, and played with an edge all year. And certainly, Tampa feels losing this one is a different feeling than what transpired with Florida. This team felt closer to the type of squads that went deep in prior years.
“This team was different, it was different, they deserved better than what happened to them,” head coach Jon Cooper said. “And it’s too bad. Because how hard they worked and committed and just did everything we asked. And then to go out … they gave everything they possibly could and fell short.”
But it’s a results business, and the Lightning now have some soul-searching to do. This wasn’t supposed to happen again. Everyone around the league this season saw them as serious Cup contenders.
Prior to the Stanley Cup playoffs, I polled 23 coaches and front office executives from other NHL organizations and asked a simple question: What team are you picking to come out of the East?
It wasn’t even close: 16 took Tampa, five took Carolina and two took Buffalo.
I circled back to some of them who picked Tampa and asked them how they viewed things now.
Team exec
“Obviously, the (Victor) Hedman injury is a huge factor. (Nikita) Kucherov underperforming in playoffs has been an issue and the goalie struggling again in playoffs. Cause for concern moving forward. Also, Tampa lost its identity, too, in my opinion. All the fighting stuff took away from their identity. Panthers style in their head and they went way overboard.”
Coach
“I think the series is more a credit to Montreal and the parity of the league. You could run the playoffs five times and get five different winners. It’s a credit to Dobeš elevating. Timely special teams and depth scoring. I also love the way they are defending. Desperate and owning the middle of the ice. Maturing as a team and executing in the moment.”
Team exec
“For me, the four first-round exits do not mean much because it could happen to anyone because of the parity of the league. On the reverse, some teams like Philadelphia and Anaheim, who haven’t been in the playoffs for so long, they both move. Lots of parity in this league.”
Team exec
“I really think it speaks to the quality of teams in the postseason, not that Tampa is no longer a contender … I still believe that their window remains open.”
Coach
“For me, it emphasizes that not only do you have to be an outstanding team, but you need to be playing at a high-level in order to move past the first round. The previous three years, Tampa twice played teams that finished ahead of them in the standings, once a team that finished four points behind them in the standings and now this year, a team that they were tied with. In order to get through a seven-game series, you need to play well, have good health and likely have a key break or two go your direction because with the parity in the league today it’s very unlikely that you will be dominantly better than your opponent.”
Team exec
“I really thought they were the best team we played in the East. But I feel like some of their top guys haven’t been at the top of their game (Kucherov, Point) and missing Hedman is a big loss and hard to replace. They are a little thin on defense depth-wise in my opinion.”
Coach
“I think it probably says more about how much they got out of their roster during the regular season. They’ve been able to find productive players to extend their competitive window. Those depth guys might be near their ceiling over the 82 and can’t elevate to another level.”
So, a lot to chew on. And there’s no doubt there’s danger in overreacting to Tampa losing to Montreal, both teams tying with 106 points in the standings this year. The other series that was similarly pitting two really good teams was Dallas and Minnesota and no one is calling for major changes with the Stars.
But the thing is, it’s four years in a row out in the first round. That will chew at a smart and competitive GM such as Julien BriseBois. He’s in the winning championships business, not the make-the-playoffs business.
Which brings us to a wild thought: Would BriseBois consider moving Kucherov?
Kucherov had his moments in this series, but he was held pointless in the last three games and overall, his frustration showed throughout. That wasn’t Hart Trophy Kucherov in this series.
He has one year on his contract next season before becoming a UFA in July 2027. Kucherov does not have a full no-move clause, just a modified no-trade clause with a 10-team list. Odds are the Lightning’s top priority is, in fact, to extend Kucherov, who turns 33 in June. But I will just point out, BriseBois has never been afraid to swing big. That would be one heck of a chip to push into the market.
And there might be some big-name players on the move in trades this summer. And Tampa often ends up being top 5 on many a star player’s list. Just saying.
Whatever BriseBois decides to do, he won’t be hesitant. That’s his track record: Identify a need, and attack it.
Brayden Point is 30. Jake Guentzel is 31. Brandon Hagel is 27. Anthony Cirelli is 28. Erik Cernak is 28. Andrei Vasilevskiy is 31. J.J. Moser is 25. Dominic James (who was outstanding in Game 7) is 23. Pending UFA Darren Raddysh is 30. That’s still a core with 3-4 years in them as a whole.
Hedman, 35, and Ryan McDonagh, 36, are getting near the end, but it’s still a roster overall that can compete. But they want more than that.
It only gets harder moving forward in the Atlantic Division, with up-and-coming Buffalo and Montreal meeting in the second round of the playoffs and just opening their contention window for many years to come.
The Panthers will be rested and healthy in September. They’ll be in the contenders’ group again. Boston and Ottawa are in the playoff mix.
So, where does Tampa fit in all that, as currently constructed?
On the eve of the series, Cooper was feeling a little nostalgic as he talked about the decade-plus run his team has had, but also the recent first-round exits.
“To be honest, we have gone on such a run, at some point that run ends,” he said. “And what I’m proud about this group is, yeah, the run ended in the sense we haven’t gone on a playoff run, but we have gotten back to the dance each time. Two of those times we had to play the eventual Stanley Cup champions in the first round. So it hasn’t been easy to keep getting here.
“That’s why I have to give the guys a ton of credit. But in saying that, at some point you’re going to run out of at-bats.”
Has Tampa run out of at-bats? I don’t think so. But an important offseason awaits. Getting the band back together as is probably won’t cut it after four consecutive first-year exits.
And I’m betting on one of the game’s best GMs to recognize that.