The Lightning begin a stretch of seven of their next eight games at home, but coach Jon Cooper doesn't want them looking too far ahead. "We can't look at it as seven of eight, we have to look at [Tuesday]," Cooper said. "We don't want to say it's desperation time, but we've really given ourselves not much room for error." The Lightning are 2-7-2 in their past 11 games, but got three of six points on a trip through Western Canada at the Calgary Flames, Vancouver Canucks and Edmonton Oilers. "We're definitely not where we want to be but we're playing better," forward Tyler Johnson said. "We need to continue to play hard and fight for points." The Lightning look for their recent success against the Red Wings to continue; Tampa Bay defeated Detroit in each of the past two Eastern Conference First Round series and in their first two games this season. The Lightning won 6-4 on Oct. 13 and 4-3 on Nov. 15. Forward Tanner Richard, 23, will play his first NHL game. Richard, a third-round pick (No. 71) in the 2012 draft, had 17 points (seven goals, 10 assists) in 22 games with Syracuse of the AHL.
