Record: 43-21-6, 92 points
Playoff position:Second place in Atlantic Division, eight points behind Boston Bruins
The Lightning didn't have the start to the season that anyone expected but they've been one of the best teams in the NHL since mid-December.
The Lightning season turned against the Ottawa Senators on Dec. 17. Entering the game, they were 16-12-1, sixth in the Atlantic Division, 13 points behind the first-place Bruins.
In the second period, forward Nikita Kucherov turned over the puck at the Senators blue line, leading to a game-tying goal by Anthony Duclair. Kucherov played one more shift in the period, one shift early in the third, and was benched for the final 17:27 of the period and all 4:41 of overtime, which ended with a goal by Anthony Cirelli that gave the Lightning a 4-3 win.
"We were making decisions and that was what was best for us to win tonight," Lightning coach Jon Cooper said after the game. "[Kucherov is] a huge part of our team … it could've been anybody. As a group, we put ourselves in this position. We wanted to win this game tonight, and this is what we're going with."