The Tampa Bay Lightning have gone cold, showcased by their two-game losing streak during their final road-trip of the 2025\/26 regular season. The Lightning have dropped two big divisional games to the Sabres, and Senators while the Canadiens loom next, in their march towards winning the Atlantic.<\/p>\n
The Lightning’s recent losses have been some tough ones, the first in a physical matchup with the Sabres who have had the Bolts number this season, and the second on the second night of a back-to-back was a demolition of backup keeper Jonas Johansson. <\/p>\n
But despite all that, the Lightning still control their own destiny and head coach Jon Cooper will not be using injuries as an excuse. <\/p>\n
Breaking Down How the Lightning Can Clinch the Atlantic Division<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cYou can\u2019t really ever use injuries as an excuse. I don\u2019t know what man-games lost we have this year, but it\u2019s got to be up there in this league. We\u2019ve had to deal with it all year. This is a little different because we had to bring three American League guys just to play in this game, and I thought they did great for us. Ultimately though, It\u2019s a 1-1 game in the third and we\u2019ve got a chance to get points out of this game\u2026We\u2019re a playoff team, we\u2019re just not playing like one right now and we only have a couple of games here to figure it out and see where we land. But we need to be better than we are right now.\u201d<\/p>\n –\u00a0Jon Cooper<\/p>\n