Lightning Become 3rd Team In NHL History To Earn 60 Wins In A Season
Yanni Gourde scored twice, Mikhail Sergachev, Brayden Point, and Steven Stamkos also scored as the Tampa Bay Lightning defeat the Ottawa Senators 5-2 on Monday night.
The win improves the Bolts record to 60-15-4 (124 pts.) as they become just the third team in NHL history to reach the 60 win mark in a season. They join the 1976-77 Montreal Canadiens who also had 60 wins. They are tied for second trailing only the 1995-96 Detroit Red Wings who had 62 wins.
The Lightning’s 124 points are tied for the fifth most in NHL history (most: 132 pts by the 1976-77 Montreal Canadiens).
“Winning 60, credit to those players. I’ve been in the league for a while now and understand what a grind it is to play 82 of these with the schedule and everything.” Coach Jon Cooper said after the game. “To win three out of four and do it all year long, got to give those guys credit because in the end we’ve kind of been looking at the playoffs here for a while and they keep bringing it. I’m really proud of the guys.”
Tampa Bay finishes its four game season series with Ottawa with a 3-1-0 record. The win was their 28th win on the road this season which is good for second most all-time in the NHL. They have a chance to match the most road wins in a season (31) if they win their remaining three games. The record is currently held by the 2005-06 Detroit Red Wings.
Nikita Kucherov finished the game with three assists and is just two points away from tying the single-season NHL record for a Russian born player. The record (132-points) is currently held by Alexander Mogilny (127 points for the Buffalo Sabres in 1992-93).
Tampa Bay will play the Montreal Canadiens at Bell Centre Tuesday (7:30 p.m. puck drop).
