The Tampa Bay Lightning bagged consecutive victories for the first time since before the holiday break with wins over the Anaheim Ducks and Los Angeles Kings this past week.
Now, as they ready for an enormous back-to-back on the road beginning with the Minnesota Wild on Friday night, the club's eager to discover if it has finally found some traction before heading into its mandatory bye week.
"I'm excited for this," head coach Jon Cooper told Joe Smith of the Tampa Bay Times. "I want to see where we're at. This will be a good gauge."
A win over the Western Conference leaders would be a tremendous boost for the Lightning, who emerged from the basement of the East on Thursday night - but only by virtue of a superior goal differential.
However, this club's in no position to trade points. If the Lightning fail to consolidate a win over the Wild with another versus the Winnipeg Jets on Saturday, they would only be spinning their wheels into the break - which in itself could sap them of any momentum.
But if they earn four points in the space of two nights, and welcome the added benefit of banged-up forwards Tyler Johnson, Alex Killorn, and Ondrej Palat taking several days of rest (not to mention moving another week closer to the return of Steven Stamkos), the Bolts could put themselves in a position to make a run.
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