The past 15 or so games saw a valiant effort by the Lightning to get back into the race. Ultimately, their January struggles put them into a hole that proved too big to completely pull out of. They were close, though. A three game losing streak against Toronto, Washington, and Arizona was ultimately the nail in the coffin. Pull one win out of those three games, and the Lightning are still in the hunt on the last day of the season.
If it’s against Toronto, the Lightning would have been in a position of being one win away against the Buffalo Sabres today.