With its staggered schedule and constant multi-day breaks, December was always going to be a weird month for the Tampa Bay Lightning. To their credit, they made the most of it by posting an 8-3 record and keeping their spot in the Eastern Conference playoff race. It was one of those months where they couldn’t secure their spot in the Atlantic Division due to their lack of games, but they could have really screwed things up if they had struggled.
Their 11 games played tied the Los Angeles Kings for the fewest played, yet they still managed to pick up 16 points, which was tied for the 13th most in the month of December.