That overtime loss was the second in three-straight defeats for the Bolts, who also dropped home matchups against St. Louis and Carolina that week. The Lightning felt like they played well for the majority of the game in all three losses but weren't getting the results they wanted or felt like they deserved.
Since then, however, the Lightning have been rewarded for their effort. They held possession for the majority of the game in an important Atlantic Division tilt against the Florida Panthers on Tuesday to leave Sunrise with a 2-1 victory. Two days later, they rallied from a one-goal deficit at home against the division-leading Boston Bruins and held on down the stretch for maybe their most impressive win of the year, a 3-2 defeat of the Bruins.
Tonight's game against the Capitals at AMALIE Arena (7 p.m. puck drop) affords the Lightning another chance to see how their improved game stacks up against the League's top team.
"Results are key, but the process and the way we're playing, that's just as important, especially this time of the year," Lightning defenseman Victor Hedman said. "We know if we stick to what works and the way we play, we're going to have success down the stretch. But it's always fun to win hockey games, especially playing the right way too feels so much better. We just have to do that, and things will turn out well for us."
Playing a full 60-minute game has allowed the Lightning to pick up two-straight wins and victories in three of their last four games. In the aforementioned loss to Washington, the Lightning controlled play over the first two periods but slipped in the third, allowing the Caps to score three unanswered goals and escape with a victory. A night later at home against the Hurricanes, the Bolts failed to show up for the opening period and found themselves trailing 3-0 after 20 minutes. A furious rally over the final two periods was not enough to earn a result, the Lightning falling 3-2.
"Last two games have been 60-minute effort," Bolts forward Mathieu Joseph said. "From the first minute to the last, we battled. We protected our lead. We came back a little bit against Boston when we were down 1-0. We didn't collapse. We stuck to our plan. I really liked the way we played. I think if we play like that, we had some bounces before that when we played like that and it didn't go our way, but the last two games, it's good to see that 60-minute effort is giving us success."
The test for the Bolts tonight is to duplicate their effort from two weeks ago in D.C. - at least their effort from the first two periods - and continue that throughout the contest. Any letup or inattention to detail could punish the Lightning.