"This is how you know you've been on the road a long time. I asked the guys who the last team we played was at home, and after going through 10 guys, nobody got the right answer," Cooper remarked, smiling. "I didn't go to Heddy though because I knew Heddy would know. Yeah, nobody knew who our last home game was against, that's how long it's been."
Since playing that enigmatic last game at AMALIE Arena, the Bolts' momentum hasn't really slowed down. Tampa Bay went 4-1-1 in the six road contests since hosting the Kings and has solidified its hold on second place in the Atlantic Division while continuing to narrow the gap with division-leading Boston (the Lightning trail the Bruins by five points with a game in hand entering Tuesday).
Tampa Bay is arguably the hottest team in the NHL since the holiday break, going 15-2-1 over its last 18 games. The Lightning haven't lost two in a row over that stretch. They enter tonight's contest on a six-game home win streak, the second-longest active home win streak in the NHL (Vancouver is currently on a nine-game home win streak) and tied for the fourth-longest home win streak in the League this season.
"Good for us that we got to fight through this, we picked up some points on all those road trips, but now we've got…our next 10 games are all against teams that are in a playoff spot right now," Cooper said. "So, this will be a good gauge to see where we're at."