With the shootout win against Los Angeles, and Boston’s shutout loss to Columbus, the gap between first and second place in the Atlantic Division has been trimmed to six points. Tampa moved ahead of the Bruins in wins with 28, but still trail in regulation/overtime wins 27-26. Things are actually closer than that since the Lightning still have two games in hand.
On December 8th the Bruins had an eleven point lead over the second place Florida Panthers. The Lightning were meandering around in sixth place, a whopping fifteen points behind Boston.