Lightning remain the constant as Atlantic Division hierarchy shifts with rise of Sabres, Canadiens

BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — There’s a neck-and-neck, three-way race for the Atlantic Division title, and the only person seemingly not buying into the buzz might be Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper.

Emerging from the Lightning locker room before playing at Buffalo on Monday night, Cooper shook his head in mock dismay upon seeing the larger than usual crowd of reporters awaiting his arrival.

“Ugh. Why are there so many people here?” Cooper asked with a wink. “It’s Game 77 folks, not Game 83.”

Point taken from a two-time Stanley Cup-winner overseeing a team that’s already clinched its 12th playoff berth over his 13-year tenure in Tampa Bay.

As much as Cooper can appreciate the importance of a late-season outing between two budding Atlantic Division rivals jockeying for playoff positioning, it doesn’t match the ramped-up intensity that follows an 82-game regular season.

“It’s Game 77. I think both teams accomplished their goals for the year in regard to the regular season,” he said, before the Lightning’s 4-2 loss. “It’s just I don’t put a ton of stock into it. The stock was made of making the final eight (in the Eastern Conference), and we did that.”

Tell that to the upstart Sabres and their revitalized fanbase celebrating a team finally snapping an NHL-record 14-season playoff drought.

It’s no different in Montreal, where the young and talented Canadiens are continuing the franchise’s upward trajectory in securing back-to-back playoff berths for just the second time in 11 years.

Entering Tuesday, the Lightning and Sabres were tied for the division lead with 102 points. Montreal sat only two points back in a season the Atlantic’s hierarchy — save for the Lightning — has been turned upside down.

While the Bruins are in contention and Ottawa and Detroit battling for wild-card seeds, the two-time defending Cup champion Florida Panthers have already been eliminated. So has Toronto, with the Maple Leafs in upheaval after missing the playoffs for the first time in 11 years.

Keith Pelley, CEO of the Maple Leafs’ parent corporation, said as much of the shifting landscape in discussing his reasons for firing GM Brad Treliving last week.

“We definitely didn’t see the train coming which was the Buffalo Sabres and the Montreal Canadiens,” Pelley said. “Buffalo and Montreal have shown that they’re young, energetic teams who are gonna be here for a long time.”

That’s the hope in Buffalo, where the Sabres are on a 36-9-4 run that’s vaulted them from last place in East in early December.

“You’ve got to take a lot of pride in the fact you made the playoffs in a year where this division and this conference was so incredibly tough,” Sabres coach Lindy Ruff said.

And unlike Cooper, Ruff is relishing this moment in the second year of his second stint in Buffalo.

He’s captivated by the electricity the team has generated after its 17th consecutive sellout on Monday, and 22nd of the season. The fans were fully on board in booing the Lightning from the pregame warmup to chanting “We want Hagel!” in the third period.

Hagel has emerged as Public Enemy No. 1 in Buffalo after the Lightning forward jumped captain Rasmus Dahlin from behind in the Sabres electrifying 8-7 win a month ago.

“Everybody’s into it,” Ruff said. “I think our fans have been waiting for this for a while, so it’s good to see.”

Lightning forward Brayden Point was measured in assessing the loss to Buffalo.

“This game definitely had more meaning than some of them. And it’s disappointing not to get the result we wanted,” Point said. “It wasn’t playoff Game 1, so there’s still time to learn from it, but hopefully we learn pretty quick.”

In Montreal, the Canadiens had won eight straight before losing to New Jersey on Sunday, and host the Lightning on Thursday.

Cooper has enjoyed seeing the competitive shift that's taken place in the division, while reassured the Lightning have stayed in the mix.

“Buffalo has a heck of a team. And I’d like to think we’re not too shabby ourselves,” Cooper said. “There’s been waves of different teams that have made the playoffs in our division, and we’ve found a way to be able to do it.”

Come playoff time, Cooper is holding the Lightning to a higher standard no matter where they finish, noting Tampa Bay hasn’t won a playoff series since failing to three-peat as Cup champions in 2022.

“There’s potentially new teams sitting around the table but it shouldn’t change anything in our mindset,” Cooper said. “We need to look after our business here to keep moving forward because haven’t been really satisfied with the fact that we’ve been bounced the last three years.”

AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl

Montreal Canadiens' Cole Caufield (13) skates by the number 50 prior to an NHL hockey game against the New Jersey Devils, in Montreal, Sunday, April 5, 2026. Caufield is one goal away from scoring his 50th for the regular season. (Graham Hughes/The Canadian Press via AP)

Buffalo Sabres defenseman Mattias Samuelsson (23) celebrates victory following the third period of an NHL hockey game against the Tampa Bay Lightning, Monday, April 6, 2026, in Buffalo, N.Y. (AP Photo/Jeffrey T. Barnes)

Tampa Bay Lightning head coach Jon Cooper talks with linesman Jonny Murray (95) during the third period of an NHL hockey game against the Nashville Predators, Sunday, March 29, 2026, in Tampa, Fla. (AP Photo/Jason Behnken)

Buffalo Sabres defenseman Luke Schenn (5) clears the puck in front of Tampa Bay Lightning center Brayden Point (21) during the second period of an NHL hockey game Monday, April 6, 2026, in Buffalo, N.Y. (AP Photo/Jeffrey T. Barnes)

NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks swung sharply Tuesday as uncertainty about the war with Iran increased ahead of a looming deadline set by President Donald Trump to destroy Iranian power plants and bridges.

The S&P 500 fell as much as 1.2% after Trump threatened that a “whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again” if Iran does not meet his deadline at 8 p.m. Eastern time to open the Strait of Hormuz. But stocks rallied at the end of trading after Pakistan’s prime minister urged Trump to extend his deadline for another two weeks and asked Iran to open up the strait for two weeks.

The S&P 500 erased all its losses and ended with a modest gain of 0.1%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 85 points, or 0.2%, and the Nasdaq composite added 0.1%.

They’re the latest swings to hit financial markets since late February because of deep uncertainty about when the fighting may end. During just the first hour of Tuesday’s trading, the Dow careened between a gain of 74 points and a loss of 425.

Oil prices were likewise shaky. The price for a barrel of benchmark U.S. crude to be delivered in May briefly climbed above $117 before settling at $112.95, up 0.5%.

The price for a barrel of Brent crude, the international standard, eased by 0.5% to $109.27. It’s still well above its roughly $70 level from before the war began in late February.

Oil prices have spiked because the war has snarled the production and transportation of crude in the Persian Gulf. Much of that oil exits the gulf through the Strait of Hormuz to reach customers around the world, but Iran has blocked it to enemies.

The worry in markets has been that a long-term disruption will keep oil prices high for a long time and send a painful wave of inflation crashing through the global economy.

So far in the war, Trump has made a series of threats to blow up Iranian power plants if it doesn’t open the Strait of Hormuz, only to delay it several times. The possibility remains that Trump could hold off on his threats again, among other scenarios.

A year ago, Trump ultimately backed off many of the stiff tariffs that he initially threatened to put on imports from other countries, though they ended up higher than from before his second term.

“Investors are likely to remain on edge and markets unable to establish trends, probably until there is a clear outcome later this evening: a deal, the U.S./Israeli strikes intensify, or Iran’s retaliation becomes escalatory instead of proportional,” according to Paul Christopher, head of global investment strategy at Wells Fargo Investment Institute.

On Wall Street, companies with big fuel bills fell sharply as high oil prices cranked up the pressure.

Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings dropped 3.3%, and United Airlines sank 1.8%.

Companies whose customers may have the least room to absorb the recent jump in gasoline prices also struggled. Dollar Tree slid 4.2%, and Dollar General fell 2.6%.

The average price for a gallon of regular gasoline across the United States has leaped to $4.14, according to AAA. It was below $3 a couple days before the United States and Israel launched attacks to begin the war in late February.

Stocks of health insurers helped support the market after the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services said Medicare Advantage payments will likely see a net average increase of 2.48% in 2027. That was well ahead of what some investors expected, according to UBS analysts led by AJ Rice.

UnitedHealth Group jumped 9.4%, and Humana rose 7.9%.

Broadcom was another force pushing strongly upward on the market. It rose 6.2% after announcing deals with Google and Anthropic.

All told, the S&P 500 rose 5.02 points to 6,616.85. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 85.42 points to 46,584.46, and the Nasdaq composite added 21.51 to 22,017.85.

In stock markets abroad, Universal Music Group jumped 11.4% in Amsterdam after Bill Ackman’s Pershing Square Capital Management offered to buy the record label behind Taylor Swift and Bad Bunny in a cash-and-stock deal valued at approximately $64 billion.

Pershing Square argued the proposed deal would clear uncertainty that’s weighed on UMG’s stock, but its share price remained below what Pershing said its bid is worth. That could indicate investor doubt that the deal will happen.

In stock markets abroad, indexes fell across much of Europe. Asian stock indexes were stronger, with South Korea’s Kospi up 0.8% for one of the world’s bigger gains.

In the bond market, Treasury yields eased modestly. The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 4.30% from 4.34% late Monday.

That’s still well above its 3.97% level from before the war, and the rise has pushed up rates for mortgages and other loans going to U.S. households and businesses, which slows the economy.

AP Business Writers Yuri Kageyama and Matt Ott contributed.

John Mauro works on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange in New York, Tuesday, April 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Ed Curran works on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange in New York, Tuesday, April 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

People work on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange in New York, Tuesday, March 31, 2026. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

A general view shows the New York Stock Exchange, Friday, March 27, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)

People stand in front of an electronic stock board showing Japan's Nikkei index at a securities firm Tuesday, April 7, 2026, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

A person walks in front of an electronic stock board showing Japan's Nikkei index at a securities firm Tuesday, April 7, 2026, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

A person walks in front of an electronic stock board showing Japan's Nikkei index at a securities firm Tuesday, April 7, 2026, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)