Wednesday, 4 a.m.
Maybe it meant very little besides the victory. Maybe it was just the 81st game of an 82-game season. Maybe it was important because winning is better than losing, nothing more. Maybe it was a further assault on the record book.
Or maybe, just maybe, it can leave a sliver of doubt in the minds of the Florida Panthers.
The Tampa Bay Lightning concluded their home schedule of the season with a convincing 5-1 victory over the Florida Panthers. The Bolts will finish second in the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference, four points behind Toronto.
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It was a comfortable win at home for the Bolts. Brayden Point scored his 42nd goal, Jake Guentzel scored his 41st and Nikita Kucherov scored his 37th. Conor Geekie and Darren Raddysh also scored.
Andrei Vasilevskiy won his 38th game of the season, stopping 23 of 24 shots.
The Bolts are in New York to play the Rangers at 7 p.m. on Thursday night.