In the end, it wasn’t a horrible month for the Tampa Bay Lightning. Sure, six games in that wasn’t the way things were tracking, but a strong finish to the month helped pull the Lightning back into the middle of the pack. And all of that without Nick Paul. Things can only get better once he’s back, right?
The question that they’ll be answering for the next few months is if their 1-4-2 start put them in a spot that they can’t overcome. Their first win in November vaulted them back into a playoff spot and just four points behind the Montreal Canadiens for the top spot.