The Tampa Bay Lightning has added another achievement this season to further become a reputation as one of the most important organizations in the NHL.
Tampa Bay's AHL member Syracuse Crunch won their game 3-2 in the seventh straight season last Wednesday.
With Syracuse's playoff spot, the Lightning (NOW) will start the Stanley Cup playoffs for the eighth straight time and now has some bragging rights in the rest of the NHL.
Tampa Bay and Syracuse have qualified for the playoffs for seven consecutive seasons. This is the longest running activity of any NHL organization, and its NHL and AHL teams are eligible for the playoffs.
Tampa Bay won a streak of Boston Bruins, missing the first 11 seasons in Boston, who have qualified in the playoffs for the past 11 seasons.
Julien Brisebois, vice president and general manager of Lightning, said the organization is committed to building its culture on two levels.
“We are very proud of the situation in Syracuse. We invested a lot of resources there, we made sure we have really good people, we have really good coaching staff over the years and invested in good coaching staff. Now we are lucky (Crunch Ead Coach) Joel Bouchard and his assistants will work hard here and make a whole day of hard work in their assistants and provide them with potential work and their potential work and their potential.
Crunch has played in the Calder Cup playoffs for each of the past four seasons and has been eligible since 2017-2019. These seasons have been omitted due to the common pandemic, with no Calder Cup playoffs in 2020 or 2021.
The Colorado Avalanche is the next most recent organization, with five consecutive NHL and AHL playoffs.
Tampa Bay won the Stanley Cups in 2020 and 2021, leading the NHL with 87 playoff wins and 146 playoff games since the 2014-15 season.
Syracuse also won long-term playoff success.
Crunch reached the Calder Cup final in 2017 and qualified for the Calder Cup playoffs for seven consecutive seasons, the second-ranked active run in the AHL, behind Providence Bruins’ 11 years.
Brisebois said the success at Syracuse this season was particularly impressive as the team had to overcome more injuries than any previous season. He believes general manager Stacy Roest and Bouchard and a pair of first-year staff members of athletic trainer Alex Maring and physical therapist Tyler Bacarro worked due to injuries.
“It's really a collective success. A lot of people contributed. It's first that our Scouts found really good players for our organization and then the developers and Bouchard staff took over from there. It's very important, and the fact that we're doing in the playoffs every year is important to us because I think it provides the right environment for our players to grow and grow.”
Syracuse’s success also helped lightning. Tampa Bay saw that many players recalled their AHL branch games in the 2024-25 season, some of whom won their NHL first appearances and goals in the process.
“I'm very grateful because the quality of the work that happened in Syracuse eventually translates into our ability to continue competing at the NHL level and continue pursuing the championship in Tampa,” Brisbos said.
Tampa Bay will open the playoffs when the Florida Panthers are hosted in the first round at 8:30 p.m. Tuesday.
Syracuse then kicked off the playoffs against the Rochester Americans on Friday.
