Being No. 1 Team Can Mean Trouble

There is a pattern in the Eastern Conference that the Tampa Bay Lightning doesn’t like.

Only once in the last nine years has the top team from the regular season reached the Stanley Cup finals. New Jersey pulled it off in 2000-01, but each of the eight others was dispatched in short order.

The Lightning, which had the best season in the franchise’s brief history, will battle that, as well as the New York Islanders, its first-round opponent. Making the assignment more difficult is the apparent parity in the Eastern Conference.

The top five teams finished within four points of each other, with one point deciding two of the three divisions titles. Adding to the confusion, Boston Coach Mike Sullivan and Montreal’s Claude Julien make their playoff debuts against each other. The Ducks’ Mike Babcock showed last season that a rookie coach can go far.

And lurking in the picture is New Jersey goaltender Martin Brodeur. The defending champion Devils may be the sixth-seeded team this year, but with Brodeur, they have arguably the best goalie in the NHL. He has led New Jersey to three Stanley Cups in the last nine seasons.