TAMPA, Fla. – A 2-1 shootout win in Washington last Saturday sent the Lightning into the Christmas break on a three-game win streak. It also concluded the front half of a six-game stretch in which they play five times in the friendly confines of Amalie Arena.
“We have kind of circled these six games and it’s great that we are 3-0,” said coach Jon Cooper, whose team has 40 points and is in the second wild-card spot. “We have three more left against some top flight teams in the East, so I guess we will see where we are after that.”
The first of those three, all at home and each with a 7 p.m. start time, is Wednesday evening at Amalie against Florida. The Panthers, with two games in hand on the Bolts, have 40 points and are third in the Atlantic.
The Rangers, with 47 points and the best record in the Eastern Conference, are in town Saturday. The Canadiens visit on Sunday. Montreal has 35 points and is on the outside looking in at the playoff picture, though they have at least one point in eight of their last 10 games.
The Lightning’s win streak began last Tuesday when they defeated the visiting Blues, 6-1. That was followed by a 5-4 win over Vegas on Thursday when Nick Paul scored with 1:13 remaining in the game. The Golden Knights scored twice in the third period to knot the score at four.
“I like a lot of things that we have done,” said Cooper. “We had to gut one out against Vegas and we beat some good teams here in this run we are on.”
The run followed a five-game trip in which Tampa Bay went 2-3. After beginning in Nashville, the Bolts went to Seattle before visiting Vancouver, Edmonton and Calgary. The journey concluded with a 4-2 loss to the Flames.
“We made it a point of emphasis when we came back that we weren’t happy with the way it ended,” said Cooper.
The Lightning did something about it and they will try to stretch their win streak to four against the Panthers.
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