It’s an exciting week in Tampa Bay with the lead-up to the NHL Stadium Series game on Feb. 1 at Raymond James Stadium. After playing seven of their last eight games on the road, the Lightning returned home early Sunday morning for a five-game homestand ahead of the Winter Olympic break. Two of those games come against Western Conference opponents, while the final three are divisional matchups in a tightly contested Atlantic Division.
The Lightning opened the week with a 2-0 shutout win against the Utah Mammoth on Monday before they host the Winnipeg Jets on Thursday.
“We’ve got Western teams, Winnipeg, coming in. Then it’s Boston, Buffalo, who we haven’t seen, that’s right behind us. And then our last game with Florida,” said Jon Cooper. “We just can’t overlook these ones coming up. We’ve got to build our game to make sure we’re ready.”
Monday’s win improves the Lightning to 33-14-4 this season, including a 15-1-1 mark over their last 17 games. Andrei Vasilevskiy, who has won 12 of his past 13 starts (12-0-1), has a goals-against average of 2.07, which tops the league.
Even with the Lightning’s recent run, the Atlantic Division remains a juggernaut. The Detroit Red Wings (32-16-5) are 8-1-1 in their past 10 games and trail Tampa Bay by one point for first place, while the Buffalo Sabres continue their resurgence with an 18-3-1 stretch that puts them in position to claim a playoff spot for the first time in 14 seasons.
© Kim Klement Neitzel-Imagn Images“There’s just no separation in the East. If you just look at some of these teams, Pittsburgh just went out west and swept their trip. Teams are going out there and collecting points,” said Cooper. “We have a little homestand here, and it’s our job to make sure we just keep that standard of play up and see where the score ends up at the end. If we do what I know we can, we should be in good shape.”
The Bruins, who the Lightning host Sunday in the NHL Stadium Series, are on an 8-2 run and have climbed into a wild-card spot. The two division rivals always play a physical, hard-nosed game, and as league executives have noted all week, there’s a real “buzz” around the city.
“The Stadium Series is going to be a ton of fun,” said Cooper. “Gasparilla weekend… You can already see it driving down Bayshore. As soon as I see those fences going up, I know the pirates are coming. It should be an exciting time. Tampa is a wonderful city, and it’s a fun time here. So the guys are looking forward to it.”
With a cold front moving through much of the country, Tampa is set for a high of 47 degrees and a low of 32 for puck drop—an uncharacteristically cold weekend, but ideal for an outdoor hockey game in Florida.