Lightning gearing up for long playoff run

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It took a while for the Lightning to work their way up to the top of the conference battling all year with the Hurricanes, Panthers, Capitals and Rangers and they look to keep going in their final two games of the season, not letting their foot off the gas.

The Lightning bolstered their roster at the trade deadline picking up some big pieces to the puzzle in Brad Marchand and Brock Boeser, Lightning GM Blake waited till the last minute to pull the trigger shipping out star winger Mark Stone and goalie Darcy Keuemper.

Blake has this to say about his trade deadline blockbuster "I knew i had to make a move if i wanted this team to come out ontop of the East, competition was fierce, so adding Marchand was a no brainer, he's a winner, you need those type of players to win, guys that will go through the wall for their coach, whatever it takes to win"

Lightning Coach Jon Cooper is starting to shift his teams focus to the playoffs as they don't want to underachieve as they did last season.

"Our players will be ready to go come playoff time, with Johnny Gaudreau and Brayden Point leading the offense and Giordano and company leading the way on the backend, we will be ready, Giordano sits second in the league with over 150 blocked shots and we will be looking for more of the same from him as we move forward and Vasilevskiy will be relied on to do what he did all season long.

Lightning note:Defensive specialist Barclay Goodrow will miss the first 2 games of the Playoffs as he finishes serving his 6 game suspension.