The Tampa Bay Lightning will face off against the Montreal Canadiens in the first round of the 2026 NHL Stanley Cup playoffs.
The Bolts are sitting in second place in the Atlantic Division after securing an overtime win against the Detroit Red Wings on Monday night.
Tampa Bay did not secure the win in regulation, leaving room for the Buffalo Sabres to clinch the Atlantic Division title with a 5-1 win over the Chicago Blackhawks.
With Montreal sitting in third, they are locked in to face off against Tampa Bay in the first round.
Both the Canadiens and the Bolts have one more regular-season game each, determining which team will host Games 1, 2, 5 and 7 of the first-round series.
Montreal and Tampa Bay split their regular-season series, with each team walking away with two wins.
The Bolts need any kind of win in Wednesday's match-up against the New York Rangers to secure both the second-place title in the division and the home-arena advantage in Round One.
The puck drops at Benchmark International Arena at 7 p.m.
Coverage for Wednesday's game starts at 6:30 p.m. on The Spot-Tampa Bay 66. Here's how to watch.
Nearly all Lightning games will be broadcast live on The Spot – Tampa Bay 66 (WXPX-TV) and will also be streamed here.
The Spot Tampa Bay 66 is the official broadcast partner of the Tampa Bay Lightning. The Spot and Tampa Bay 28 are both owned by EW Scripps.
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