As injuries pile up, so does the Tampa Bay Lightning’s win total

It took a shootout in St. Louis on Friday night to snap Tampa Bay’s 11-game win streak, which was the longest in franchise history. The loss also ended an impressive seven-game winning streak. The Lightning still picked up a point and have a 12-game winning streak heading into Dallas on Sunday afternoon.

Playing on the road has been anything but grueling for Jon Cooper’s team, which is 17-4-4 against Tampa and hasn’t lost in regulation since a 2-0 setback in Toronto on Dec. 8. Overall, the Lightning enter their matinee against the Stars 29-13-4, good for 62 points and first place in a Atlantic Division race in which the top five teams were separated by all six points entering play on Saturday.

“You have to get points to stay in the mix,” Cooper, who coached his 1,000th game in two weeks and won for the 600th time, said after the St. Louis game. “We’ve put ourselves in a pretty good place and this is a full month of road games for us. The fact that we continue to pick up points will bode well for us later in the season.”

As for what Cooper wants to say about being on the road this month, the Bolts rang in 2026 with back-to-back afternoon wins on New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day in Anaheim and Los Angeles, respectively. The SoCal trip was the start of a stretch in which the Lightning, through the matchup in Dallas, will have played eight of nine games on the road and in all four time zones. By the time they leave Columbus next Saturday, the total will be 10 of 12 before they close out January with a pair of home dates.

Overcoming major injuries

The Lightning are really doing whatever it takes to get the job done and continue to thrive without defensemen Victor Hedman (elbow), who has missed the last 15 games and 27 of 30, and Ryan McDonagh (lower body), who has missed the last nine games and also 27 of 30. Emil Lilleberg (undisclosed) was absent for the last 13 games and Erik Cernak returned for the aforementioned game against the Ducks after sitting out 19 of 30 games. 20 due to a hand injury.

Braydon Point joins a busy infirmary that was injured for seven games earlier this season and, in Cooper’s words, is considered “week-to-week” after suffering a fumble and an apparent knee injury in Philadelphia.

The Lightning have not only persevered thanks to an extensive injury report, but have also played an exceptional brand of hockey while receiving contributions from all 19 players in the lineup every night. That includes those drafted by their AHL affiliate in Syracuse, something that has kept the trade thread busy in Tampa this season. That’s especially the case with those on the blue line.

“It’s not like you can come in with your feet wet,” Brandon Hagel said after the second of two straight wins in Philly. “You’re put right into the fire. They’ve all done a good job. They’ve got good chemistry back (on defense) and to get a win streak going, everyone has to do their job.”

Stars aren’t the only ones taking center stage

Nikita Kucherov enters the matchup in Dallas 11-13-24 in his last 12 games with 10 multi-point performances. Hagel is having another strong season (42 points in 41 games) and PK artist Anthony Cirelli has a dozen goals and is a plus-26, which is the best among Bolts forwards.

The defense’s production level in the absence of Hedman and company is nothing short of impressive. Leading the way is Darren Raddysh, who has a career-high 41 points (40 games) and has six multi-point attempts in the last eight games. He is also tied with Kucherov and Oliver Bjorkstrand for the team lead in power play goals with six. (For Bjorkstrand, six of his seven goals came on the man advantage.)

JJ Moser has recorded five goals and 15 points while sporting an eye-popping plus-36 rating that leads NHL defensemen and sits third overall. In fact, during Friday’s games, Moser was the only non-Avalanche player in the top seven. The 25-year-old is plus-56 in 98 games in his two seasons with the Lightning and recently signed an extension.

Of course, Andrei Vasilevskiy is in goal. Vasy won his 350^e game in Pittsburgh, extending his win streak to eight before the loss in St. Louis. Jonas Johansson has also been impressive when called upon.

The bottom line is that the Bolts won one way or another. They can turn on the jets and win big, or they can succeed in hard-fought matches that test patience levels.

“Very valuable,” said Moser, when asked about the team’s ability to come out on top regardless of how a game went or not. “It means we’re doing a lot of the right things. It gives you a lot of confidence that you’re ready for whatever type of game you face.”