TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — The Tampa Bay Lightning have to beat one of the franchise’s greatest players to get where they want to go.
Hall of Fame forward Martin St. Louis, whose No. 26 hangs in the rafters at Benchmark International Arena, leads the Montreal Canadiens against the Lightning in a first-round series that begins Sunday.
St. Louis took over as Montreal’s head coach in 2022 so he’s returned to Tampa Bay already as a visitor. But there’s more at stake now.
The Canadiens are seeking their first Stanley Cup since 1993 and haven’t won a playoff series since the Lightning beat them in the Cup Final in 2021.
Tampa Bay has been eliminated in the first round three consecutive seasons since falling two wins shy of a three-peat.
“I was fortunate enough to coach Marty not for a long time but I know his hockey sense, his hockey mind, his acumen,” Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. “He knows the game. He knows exactly and he sees it in advance. That’s probably why somebody of his size was in the league so long because he’s super competitive, super talented, but he had a drive about him and he’s got the same thing in coaching. ... He’s a sponge so am I surprised at his success? Not an ounce because Marty is gonna be successful in anything he does.
“If you’re comparing myself to Marty, I’m not a Hall of Famer. He’s in the Hall of Fame. I’m not. So, I’d never put us on the same level.”
St. Louis played 13 seasons for the Lightning and led the franchise to its first Stanley Cup title in 2004 when he won the Hart Trophy. He was the first player to have his number retired by the organization in 2017.
“I’m so far removed from that,” St. Louis said of his time in Tampa Bay. “It’s my fourth year now, gone to the building plenty of times. I think the first time I went, yeah, it was a little weird. I don’t have any emotion attached to the Lightning right now. Zero.”
Both teams finished the regular season with 106 points. The Lightning earned the home-ice advantage in the series with 50 wins to Montreal’s 48.
The Canadiens won two of the four regular-season meetings in regulation, including the last two by a combined score of 6-1.
The playoff-tested Lightning are tired of early summer vacations. Championships are the standard in Tampa Bay and the Lightning haven’t come close three straight years.
They are tied with Colorado for longest current playoff streak in the NHL at nine seasons but all that matters is finishing it off.
“Long summers aren’t that fun,” left wing Brandon Hagel said. “Everyone wants to play. Everyone dreams of this moment. We have a good team that we’re up against and it’s going to be a good test for us.”
Forward Nikita Kucherov led Tampa Bay with 130 points (44 goals, 86 assists), finishing second to Connor McDavid for most in the NHL this season and the second-highest point total in his 12-year career.
Forward Jake Guentzel had 88 points (38 goals, 50 assists) for the Lightning and Hagel added 74 points (36 goals, 38 assists). Defenseman Darren Raddysh had a career-high 70 points (22 goals, 48 assists).
Center Nick Suzuki led Montreal with a career-high 101 points (29 goals, 72 assists), becoming only the fifth player in franchise history to reach 100 points in a season.
Forward Cole Caufield led the team with a career-best 51 goals, finishing behind Nathan MacKinnon’s 53 for most in the NHL. Defenseman Lane Hutson had 78 points (12 goals, 66 assists), and left wing Juraj Slafkovsky finished with 73 (30 goals, 43 assists).
Lightning goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy, who won the Vezina Trophy in 2018-19 and finished in the top three four other times, is 39-15-4 with a 2.31 goals-against average and .912 save percentage.
Vasilevskiy was the Conn Smythe Trophy winner when the Lightning won their third Stanley Cup and second of back-to-back titles in 2020-21.
Canadiens goalie Jakub Dobes was 29-10-4 in his first full season with 2.78 GAA and .901 save percentage. Dobes was 1-2 in three playoff games last year when Montreal lost to Washington in five games in the first round.
Lightning captain Victor Hedman has rejoined the team following a leave of absence since March. Hedman isn’t available for the start of the playoffs and it’s unknown when he’ll return to the ice.
For now, the Lightning will have their captain in the locker room and with the team.
Hedman was limited to just 33 games because of injuries, including elbow surgery, before taking a leave for personal reasons.
AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl
Montréal Canadiens center Nick Suzuki controls the puck against the New York Islanders during the first period of an NHL hockey game, Sunday, April 12, 2026, in Elmont, N.Y. (AP Photo/Noah K. Murray)
Philadelphia Flyers' Matvei Michkov (39) scores a goal past the defense of Montréal Canadiens' Brendan Gallagher (11), Kaiden Guhle (21), Adam Engstrom (42), Jake Evans (71) and goaltender Jakub Dobes (75) during the second period of an NHL hockey game, Tuesday, April 14, 2026, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Derik Hamilton)
New York Rangers center Vincent Trocheck (16) and Tampa Bay Lightning defenseman Darren Raddysh (43) battle for the puck during the third period of an NHL hockey game Wednesday, April 15, 2026, in Tampa, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)
BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Progressive leaders from around the globe gathered in Barcelona on Saturday to try and galvanize their forces and defend the multilateral rules-based order in a world turning to the right and violently torn by superpowers.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, an outspoken critic of U.S. President Donald Trump and the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran, hosted two overlapping events about democracy and progressive politics in Spain’s second-largest city.
Democrats U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz were both present alongside the leaders of Brazil, South Africa and high-ranking officials from other left-leaning governments.
While no foreign leader criticized Trump by name in public, the staunchly unilateral position of the American president that breaks with decades of U.S. foreign policy, including his derision of NATO and the United Nations, hung over the meetings.
“We all see the attacks against the multilateral system, the repeated attempts to undermine international law and the dangerous normalization of the use of force,” Sánchez said.
Trump again lashed out on Saturday on social media at Sánchez, who has faced Trump’s scorn for not allowing the U.S. to use jointly operated military bases in Spain for operations related to the Iran war and for refusing to raise military spending from 2% to 5% of GDP.
“Has anybody looked at how badly the country of Spain is doing. Their financial numbers, despite contributing almost nothing to NATO and their military defense, are absolutely horrendous. Sad to watch!!!” Trump posted on Truth Social.
Spain, like the U.S. and other developed countries, is in debt, but it has one of the world’s leading economies under Sánchez.
Sánchez told the rally of progressive politicians and party members held later on Saturday that the populist right “screams and shouts not because they are winning but because they know their time is running out.
“They know their vision of how the world should be ordered is falling apart due to the tariffs and wars,” he said. “Their embrace of climate change denial, of xenophobia, or sexism is their greatest error.
“They have tried again and again to make us embarrassed of our beliefs. That ends now. From now on they can be the ones who feel ashamed.”
Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa and Colombian President Gustavo Petro, and other leaders and officials, including Cabinet members from the United Kingdom and Germany, were in attendance at the IV Meeting in Defense of Democracy that kicked off Saturday's double-header of political events at the Barcelona convention center.
Later in the day, Sánchez, Lula and Ramaphosa stayed put to attend the inaugural Global Progressive Mobilization, where some 6,000 left-leaning elected officials, policy analysts and activists exchanged ideas.
“The far right is international, so we must be too,” German Vice Chancellor and Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil told a crowd of activists.
Sen. Murphy, a Democrat from Connecticut, spoke at the progressive rally and he didn’t shy away from blasting Trump while celebrating the loss of power of Trump's ally Viktor Orbán in elections in Hungary last week.
“Donald Trump is out to end our democracy,” Murphy said. “We are not on the verge of a totalitarian takeover, we are in the middle of it.”
But, he said, “Americans are watching what is happening across the world, and the victory in Hungary just one week ago lifted our sails.”
Walz, Kamala Harris' vice presidential candidate who has faced a violent ICE migration crackdown in Minnesota, threw barbs at U.S. Vice President JD Vance, who campaigned for Orbán and has backed far-right parties in Europe.
“Unlike our current vice president, I’m not here to arrogantly lecture or scold you, I am not here to pick a fight with the Pope or host a rally for any local wannabe authoritarians,” Walz said.
New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani, former U.S. presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton and Sen. Bernie Sanders all sent video messages played at the rally.
Among concrete proposals to come from the events, Ramaphosa said South Africa will present a draft resolution to establish an International Panel on Inequality, aiming to tackle the growing wealth gap both within and between nations, to the U.N. General Assembly in September.
Sheinbaum plugged her idea that governments commit to spending the equivalent of 10% of their military budgets on reforestation projects.
“Each year, instead of planting the seeds of war, we will plant the seeds of life,” she said.
Sánchez argued for the importance of regulating social media to stop the spread of hate speech and disinformation. His government also said that it is working with Lula's Brazil on a tax for the ultrarich.
Lula, who met with Sánchez in a bilateral summit on Friday in Barcelona, kept the focus on how to invigorate the progressive moment. He avoided naming Trump except when he called for U.N. Security Council members to “fulfill their obligation and guarantee peace.”
“Stop this madness of war because the world cannot bear any more wars,” Lula said.
Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, left, reacts next to Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva at the end of the Global Progressive Mobilisation summit in Barcelona, Spain, Saturday, April 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Joan Monfort)
U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., delivers a speech at the Global Progressive Mobilisation summit in Barcelona, Spain, Saturday, April 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Joan Monfort)
Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, center, applauds as he poses with attendees at the Meeting in Defence of Democracy summit, in Barcelona, Spain, Saturday, April 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Joan Monfort)
Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, center, poses with attendees, at the Meeting in Defence of Democracy summit in Barcelona, Spain, Saturday, April 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Joan Monfort)
Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, center, poses for a photo next to Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, left, and his wife wife Rosangela Lula da Silva, at the Meeting in Defence of Democracy summit, in Barcelona, Spain, Saturday, April 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Joan Monfort)
Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, right, greets Colombia's President Gustavo Petro at the Meeting in Defence of Democracy summit in Barcelona, Spain, Saturday, April 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Joan Monfort)
Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, right, greets Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum at the Meeting in Defence of Democracy summit in Barcelona, Spain, Saturday, April 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Joan Monfort)
Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, center, Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, center left, Colombia's President Gustavo Petro, second right, Uruguay's President Yamandu Orsi, left, and Chile's former President Gabriel Boric, right, attend the Meeting in Defence of Democracy summit in Barcelona, Spain, Saturday, April 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Joan Monfort)
