Bolts aim to start new streak tonight vs. Columbus

The Tampa Bay Lightning watched their seven-game win streak and 16-game point run evaporate in a 5-2 loss at San Jose to close out their three-game California road trip.
Now, the challenge for the Lightning is to not let a streak of the opposite nature get started.

Teams that go on long, positive runs often fall back to reality when that streak gets snapped. The Buffalo Sabres come immediately to mind.
Buffalo brought a 10-game win streak and plenty of momentum into Tampa when it took on the Lightning at AMALIE Arena on November 29. Tampa Bay earned a hard-fought 5-4 win over the Sabres in a back-and-forth game that had a playoff-like atmosphere. The Sabres lost their next four after falling in Tampa and are just 5-7-4 since that game.

The Lightning are looking to avoid a similar letdown.
"I don't think it's one of those things where, it doesn't seem to be going in that direction," Lightning forward Alex Killorn said from the locker room following his team's morning skate at AMALIE Arena. "I think it was one of those things where you can try but it's tough to win every game in this league. We just want to keep improving. There's certain things that we did in San Jose that I think we can do better, and hopefully we can do that tonight."
Another factor working against the Lightning? The always difficult first game back from a long road trip.
The Lightning haven't let those scenarios affect their play so far this season, but NHL coaches will tell you they're always a bit antsy how their team will come out in the first game at home after an extended road swing, particularly one that involves significant time zone changes like the one the Lightning face coming home from California.
"I think we've been out West twice now here in the last four weeks," Tampa Bay head coach Jon Cooper said. "It's tough coming back from those trips as any Eastern team will tell you. Hopefully we have our legs. It's seems we had a pretty good, energetic practice yesterday, but you never know until the game. When you come off these long road trips, coaches always say that they're always worried about the first one. But the group's been pretty good at handling things like that all year, so hopefully we'll be alright tonight."
Tampa Bay dismantled the Blue Jackets 8-2 in the teams' first meeting this season on October 13, the Lightning scoring a season-high four power-play goals to pull away in a game that was 3-2 in the second period. Seven different Lightning players scored a goal in that game. Thirteen found their way onto the scoresheet.
There should be some expected level of revenge from a pretty good Columbus team that has gone 8-2-1 over its last 11 games and sits in third place in the Metropolitan Division but just three points behind division-leading Washington.
"I think Columbus is a team that's pretty big. They're similar to a lot of West teams," Killorn said. "They have size but they can also skate, so it's going to be quite a challenge. I think for us we need to be able to play fast and skate to play well tonight."

The Lightning have just two games at AMALIE Arena on the homestand, which starts tonight, and only four games in Tampa in the month of January. Part of that is due to the All-Star break combined with their bye week coming during the month. But the Lightning are in the midst of a difficult stretch that started January 1 where eight of 12 games will be played on the road.
"There's a lot of really good teams in this league we have not played yet," Cooper said. "I think our schedule, it gets a little tougher down the stretch here as we enter the second half. But for us, it's just all about making the playoffs. Accumulating these points now, that's the process is to get there in the end."
Added Yanni Gourde: "I think every time we're at home, they're big games. It's good to get in front of our fans and try to start a new streak. That's what we in here, we want to win. We'll try to do that tonight."