1996–97 Tampa Bay Lightning season

1996–97 Tampa Bay Lightning
Division	6th Atlantic
Conference	11th Eastern
1996–97 record	32–40–10
Goals for	217
Goals against	247
Team information
Coach	Terry Crisp
Captain	Paul Ysebaert
Team leaders
<1995–96	1997–98>

Regular season

Final standings

Atlantic Division

No.	CR		GP	W	L	T	GF	GA	Pts
1	1	New Jersey Devils	82	45	23	14	231	182	104
2	3	Philadelphia Flyers	82	45	24	13	274	217	103
3	4	Florida Panthers	82	35	28	19	221	201	89
4	5	New York Rangers	82	38	34	10	258	231	86
5	9	Washington Capitals	82	33	40	9	214	231	75
6	11	Tampa Bay Lightning	82	32	40	10	217	247	74
7	12	New York Islanders	82	29	41	12	240	250	70

Eastern Conference

R		Div	GP	W	L	T	GF	GA	Pts
1	New Jersey Devils	ATL	82	45	23	14	231	182	104
2	Buffalo Sabres	NE	82	40	30	12	237	208	92
3	Philadelphia Flyers	ATL	82	45	24	13	274	217	103
4	Florida Panthers	ATL	82	35	28	19	221	201	89
5	New York Rangers	ATL	82	38	34	10	258	231	86
6	Pittsburgh Penguins	NE	82	38	36	8	285	280	84
7	Ottawa Senators	NE	82	31	36	15	226	234	77
8	Montreal Canadiens	NE	82	31	36	15	249	276	77
9	Washington Capitals	ATL	82	33	40	9	214	231	75
10	Hartford Whalers	NE	82	32	39	11	226	256	75
11	Tampa Bay Lightning	ATL	82	32	40	10	217	247	74
12	New York Islanders	ATL	82	29	41	12	240	250	70
13	Boston Bruins	NE	82	26	47	9	234	300	61

Divisions: ATL – Atlantic, NE – Northeast

bold – Qualified for playoffs

Game log

No.	R	Date	Score	Opponent	Record
1	W	October 5, 1996	4–3 OT	@ Pittsburgh Penguins (1996–97)	1–0–0
3	W	October 12, 1996	7–4	@ Toronto Maple Leafs (1996–97)	2–1–0
4	W	October 15, 1996	4–0	@ Buffalo Sabres (1996–97)	3–1–0
6	W	October 22, 1996	6–3	@ New York Islanders (1996–97)	5–1–0
10	L	October 31, 1996	3–4	Philadelphia Flyers (1996–97)	5–4–1
11	L	November 2, 1996	1–2	@ New Jersey Devils (1996–97)	5–5–1
12	W	November 4, 1996	5–3	@ New York Rangers (1996–97)	6–5–1
13	L	November 6, 1996	1–2	Washington Capitals (1996–97)	6–6–1
14	T	November 8, 1996	5–5 OT	Pittsburgh Penguins (1996–97)	6–6–2
15	L	November 10, 1996	2–4	@ Detroit Red Wings (1996–97)	6–7–2
16	L	November 14, 1996	3–5	@ St. Louis Blues (1996–97)	6–8–2
17	L	November 16, 1996	3–6	@ New Jersey Devils (1996–97)	6–9–2
18	W	November 19, 1996	3–0	Los Angeles Kings (1996–97)	7–9–2
19	L	November 23, 1996	1–2	Philadelphia Flyers (1996–97)	7–10–2
20	L	November 25, 1996	2–4	@ Montreal Canadiens (1996–97)	7–11–2
21	L	November 27, 1996	0–3	Buffalo Sabres (1996–97)	7–12–2
22	L	November 29, 1996	1–2	Dallas Stars (1996–97)	7–13–2
23	L	November 30, 1996	3–6	Hartford Whalers (1996–97)	7–14–2
24	L	December 4, 1996	1–3	@ Mighty Ducks of Anaheim (1996–97)	7–15–2
25	W	December 5, 1996	2–1	@ Los Angeles Kings (1996–97)	8–15–2
26	W	December 7, 1996	4–3	@ San Jose Sharks (1996–97)	9–15–2
27	T	December 12, 1996	2–2 OT	Edmonton Oilers (1996–97)	9–15–3
28	W	December 14, 1996	4–1	New York Islanders (1996–97)	10–15–3
29	W	December 16, 1996	4–2	@ Montreal Canadiens (1996–97)	11–15–3
30	L	December 18, 1996	3–5	@ Buffalo Sabres (1996–97)	11–16–3
31	L	December 19, 1996	0–3	@ Boston Bruins (1996–97)	11–17–3
32	L	December 21, 1996	5–6 OT	@ Hartford Whalers (1996–97)	11–18–3
33	L	December 23, 1996	1–3	Washington Capitals (1996–97)	11–19–3
34	T	December 26, 1996	3–3 OT	Florida Panthers (1996–97)	11–19–4
35	T	December 28, 1996	4–4 OT	Montreal Canadiens (1996–97)	11–19–5
36	W	December 31, 1996	4–2	New York Rangers (1996–97)	12–19–5
37	W	January 3, 1997	3–2	Mighty Ducks of Anaheim (1996–97)	13–19–5
38	L	January 4, 1997	3–7	@ Pittsburgh Penguins (1996–97)	13–20–5
39	W	January 6, 1997	4–3	@ Ottawa Senators (1996–97)	14–20–5
40	W	January 8, 1997	4–3	@ New York Rangers (1996–97)	15–20–5
41	W	January 9, 1997	3–1	@ Philadelphia Flyers (1996–97)	16–20–5
42	T	January 11, 1997	4–4 OT	New York Islanders (1996–97)	16–20–6
43	W	January 13, 1997	2–0	@ Chicago Blackhawks (1996–97)	17–20–6
44	L	January 15, 1997	2–4	@ Colorado Avalanche (1996–97)	17–21–6
45	W	January 21, 1997	3–2 OT	Colorado Avalanche (1996–97)	18–21–6
46	L	January 25, 1997	2–3	@ Florida Panthers (1996–97)	18–22–6
47	L	January 27, 1997	3–5	@ Ottawa Senators (1996–97)	18–23–6
48	L	January 30, 1997	1–4	Montreal Canadiens (1996–97)	18–24–6
49	L	February 1, 1997	0–3	Boston Bruins (1996–97)	18–25–6
50	W	February 4, 1997	2–0	@ Phoenix Coyotes (1996–97)	19–25–6
51	L	February 5, 1997	0–4	@ Dallas Stars (1996–97)	19–26–6
52	L	February 8, 1997	1–3	Buffalo Sabres (1996–97)	19–27–6
53	L	February 12, 1997	2–5	@ Florida Panthers (1996–97)	19–28–6
54	L	February 14, 1997	4–5 OT	@ Washington Capitals (1996–97)	19–29–6
55	W	February 15, 1997	4–1	Washington Capitals (1996–97)	20–29–6
56	T	February 17, 1997	3–3 OT	Detroit Red Wings (1996–97)	20–29–7
57	W	February 20, 1997	5–2	Philadelphia Flyers (1996–97)	21–29–7
58	W	February 22, 1997	3–1	New Jersey Devils (1996–97)	22–29–7
59	W	February 23, 1997	4–3	San Jose Sharks (1996–97)	23–29–7
60	W	February 25, 1997	3–2	St. Louis Blues (1996–97)	24–29–7
61	L	February 27, 1997	2–6	@ Boston Bruins (1996–97)	24–30–7
62	W	March 1, 1997	2–0	Florida Panthers (1996–97)	25–30–7
63	W	March 4, 1997	6–3	@ New York Islanders (1996–97)	26–30–7
64	L	March 6, 1997	0–5	Phoenix Coyotes (1996–97)	26–31–7
65	L	March 8, 1997	4–6	Boston Bruins (1996–97)	26–32–7
66	W	March 9, 1997	2–1 OT	Calgary Flames (1996–97)	27–32–7
67	L	March 13, 1997	0–3	New York Islanders (1996–97)	27–33–7
68	L	March 15, 1997	2–5	Vancouver Canucks (1996–97)	27–34–7
69	L	March 16, 1997	1–3	Toronto Maple Leafs (1996–97)	27–35–7
70	L	March 19, 1997	1–3	@ Edmonton Oilers (1996–97)	27–36–7
71	W	March 21, 1997	4–3 OT	@ Calgary Flames (1996–97)	28–36–7
72	L	March 22, 1997	2–3	@ Vancouver Canucks (1996–97)	28–37–7
73	W	March 25, 1997	5–0	Ottawa Senators (1996–97)	29–37–7
74	L	March 27, 1997	2–5	Hartford Whalers (1996–97)	29–38–7
75	T	March 29, 1997	1–1 OT	@ Florida Panthers (1996–97)	29–38–8
76	T	April 1, 1997	1–1 OT	@ Philadelphia Flyers (1996–97)	29–38–9
77	L	April 4, 1997	0–3	@ New Jersey Devils (1996–97)	29–39–9
78	W	April 5, 1997	3–2	@ New York Islanders (1996–97)	30–39–9
79	T	April 8, 1997	2–2 OT	New Jersey Devils (1996–97)	30–39–10
80	W	April 10, 1997	4–3	Pittsburgh Penguins (1996–97)	31–39–10
81	W	April 11, 1997	4–2	@ New York Rangers (1996–97)	32–39–10
82	L	April 13, 1997	1–2	@ Hartford Whalers (1996–97)	32–40–10

Playoffs

The Lightning were unable to qualify for the playoffs despite making their first playoff appearance the previous year and losing to the Philadelphia Flyers in the first round.

Player stats

Regular season

Scoring

Player	Pos	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM	+/-	PPG	SHG	GWG
Chris Gratton	C	82	30	32	62	201	-28	9	0	4
Dino Ciccarelli	RW	77	35	25	60	116	-11	12	0	6
John Cullen	C	70	18	37	55	95	-14	5	0	2
Rob Zamuner	LW	82	17	33	50	56	3	0	4	3
Roman Hamrlik	D	79	12	28	40	57	-29	6	0	0
Shawn Burr	LW/C	74	14	21	35	106	5	1	0	3
Alex Selivanov	RW	69	15	18	33	61	-3	3	0	4
Daymond Langkow	C	79	15	13	28	35	1	3	1	1
Patrick Poulin	C	73	12	14	26	56	-16	2	3	1
Bill Houlder	D	79	4	21	25	30	16	0	0	2
Brian Bradley	C	35	7	17	24	16	2	1	2	1
Mikael Andersson	LW	70	5	14	19	8	1	0	3	1
Paul Ysebaert	C	39	5	12	17	4	1	2	0	0
Drew Bannister	D	64	4	13	17	44	-21	1	0	0
Jason Wiemer	C	63	9	5	14	134	-13	2	0	0
David Shaw	D	57	1	10	11	72	1	0	0	0
Jeff Toms	C	34	2	8	10	10	2	0	0	1
Cory Cross	D	72	4	5	9	95	6	0	0	2
Igor Ulanov	D	59	1	7	8	108	2	0	0	0
Rudy Poeschek	RW/D	60	0	6	6	120	-3	0	0	0
Jeff Norton	D	13	0	5	5	16	0	0	0	0
Brantt Myhres	RW	47	3	1	4	136	1	0	0	1
Brian Bellows	LW	7	1	2	3	0	-4	0	0	0
Aaron Gavey	C	16	1	2	3	12	-1	0	0	0
Brent Peterson	LW	17	2	0	2	4	-4	0	0	0
Jamie Huscroft	D	13	0	1	1	34	-4	0	0	0
Corey Schwab	G	31	0	1	1	10	0	0	0	0
Rick Tabaracci	G	55	0	1	1	12	0	0	0	0
Paul Brousseau	RW	6	0	0	0	0	-4	0	0	0
Allan Egeland	C	4	0	0	0	5	-3	0	0	0
Daren Puppa	G	6	0	0	0	2	0	0	0	0
Jay Wells	D	21	0	0	0	13	-3	0	0	0
Derek Wilkinson	G	5	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Craig Wolanin	D	15	0	0	0	8	-9	0	0	0

Goaltending

Player	MIN	GP	W	L	T	GA	GAA	SO	SA	SV	SV%
Rick Tabaracci	3012	55	20	25	6	138	2.75	4	1415	1277	.902
Corey Schwab	1462	31	11	12	1	74	3.04	2	719	645	.897
Daren Puppa	325	6	1	1	2	14	2.58	0	150	136	.907
Derek Wilkinson	169	5	0	2	1	12	4.26	0	72	60	.833
Team:	4968	82	32	40	10	238	2.87	6	2356	2118	.899

Note: Pos = Position; GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; +/- = plus/minus; PIM = Penalty minutes; PPG = Power-play goals; SHG = Short-handed goals; GWG = Game-winning goals

MIN = Minutes played; W = Wins; L = Losses; T = Ties; GA = Goals-against; GAA = Goals-against average; SO = Shutouts; SA = Shots against; SV = Shots saved; SV% = Save percentage;

See also

• 1996–97 NHL season