{"id":394396,"date":"2026-01-06T22:40:17","date_gmt":"2026-01-06T22:40:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/394396\/"},"modified":"2026-01-06T22:40:17","modified_gmt":"2026-01-06T22:40:17","slug":"bolts-reach-season-midpoint-near-the-top-of-standings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/394396\/","title":{"rendered":"Bolts reach season midpoint near the top of standings"},"content":{"rendered":"

TAMPA, Fla. \u2014 At the midpoint of the season, Tampa Bay Lightning head coach Jon Cooper is happy to see his team near the top of a cluttered Eastern Conference standings.<\/p>\n

\u201cLooking at the perspective on a piece of paper and seeing where we are in the standings, I kind of like where we\u2019re at,\u201d Cooper said.<\/p>\n

WATCH: Bolts reach season midpoint near the top of standings<\/p>\n

Bolts reach season midpoint near the top of standings<\/p>\n

The Bolts are one point behind the first-place Detroit Red Wings. But the standings are tight, with only 11 points separating first place from last place.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe problem is, being in that spot, isn\u2019t too far from the ninth spot in our conference,\u201d Cooper said. \u201cThe parity is incredible from 16th to first. It can flip on a dime.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tampa Bay has climbed the standings despite a 1-4-2 start and many injuries to key players.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery team is going to go through adversity, and ours is probably a little more than most teams, especially early on with all the injuries,\u201d forward Gage Goncalves said. \u201cWe have a next man-up mentality, we feel confident whoever is in the net, whoever is on the D-corps, whoever is up at forwards. That\u2019s what makes us so good.\u201d<\/p>\n

The standings can be a slippery slope.<\/p>\n

The Bolts have won seven straight games, but face the best team in the NHL, the Colorado Avalanche, on Tuesday night.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think we\u2019re going to change much about what we\u2019re going to do just because we\u2019re playing a team at the halfway point that has three regulation losses,\u201d Cooper said.<\/p>\n

This season, Colorado can make history. They\u2019re on pace to set the single-season points record.<\/p>\n

\u201cI remember watching the Stanley Cup Finals between the two teams,\u201d defenseman Max Crozier said. \u201cI still feel like there\u2019s a rivalry between the two teams. Really exciting. Two top teams going at it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Share Your Story with Kyle Burger

For Tampa Bay 28 Sports Anchor Kyle Burger, pride in our local teams goes beyond college and the pros. Sports connect us as communities and families. You can connect with Kyle to share your passion for your local athletes below.
.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Experts debunk common myths about human trafficking during awareness month<\/p>\n

HeartDance Foundation experts explain how trafficking really happens in local communities, dispelling misconceptions about kidnapping and stranger danger.<\/p>\n

Experts debunk common myths about human trafficking during awareness month<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TAMPA, Fla. \u2014 At the midpoint of the season, Tampa Bay Lightning head coach Jon Cooper is happy…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":394397,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5105],"tags":[7136,7137,12262,5,189,50160,4,540,92,7138,5168,5167,7139,7140],"class_list":["post-394396","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tampa-bay-lightning","tag-abc-action-news","tag-abc-action-news-sports","tag-bolts","tag-hockey","tag-lightning","tag-midpoint","tag-nhl","tag-tampa-bay","tag-tampa-bay-lightning","tag-tampa-bay-sports","tag-tampabay","tag-tampabaylightning","tag-wfts","tag-wfts-sports"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/115850564356663327","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/394396","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=394396"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/394396\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/394397"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=394396"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=394396"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=394396"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}