The Tampa Bay Lightning’s return from the All-Star Break has been ambiguous. The Bolts were massively beaten by the Florida Panthers 1-7 in their first game and managed to earn just one point in a game against the San Jose Sharks in a game, which ended their franchise-leading 12-game winning streak at home ice. Then the team rebounded in their latest game, defeating the reigning champions Colorado Avalanche 5-0, the first shutout for Andrei Vasilevskiy this season.
The status quo in the standings remained the same after those three games: the Bolts are still trailing by four points to the Toronto Maple Leafs with two games in hand and their lead over Florida is so big that the Lightning fans can already start preparing for a trip to Toronto for their first-round matchup this April.