Lightning return to practice after holiday break

The NHL's holiday break came to an end on Friday, which means the Lightning are back at TGH Iceplex for practice. The month of December was a good one for the team, having won 7 out of their nine games played. They'll finish the month off with one more back-to-back at home against the New York Rangers on Saturday and Montreal Canadiens on Sunday.

Most recently, the Lightning are coming off a statement win, shutting out the Florida Panthers 4-0, and they had to do it without their star player, Nikita Kucherov. His night ended early after receiving a five-minute major penalty and a game misconduct for a hit on Florida Panthers' forward, Matthew Tkachuk with three minutes left in the first period. Regardless of the lineup, the Lightning have proven so far that each player can step up to the plate when called.

"I think this team got closer as a group," Lightning forward Brandon Hagel said of their win against the Panthers. "I could go down the list. We had 20 gamers out there. Everyone stuck together. We didn't bend. One guy was in, we were all in.We knew we could look every single one of those guys in the eyes & I think we did that as a group."

“You look back at this game, especially if we make that push to the playoffs, I think this is the game you can look back at. Also this builds momentum going forward. I think everyone grew as a player & everyone can tap the guy beside him & trust him after a game like this."

Lightning rookie, Conor Geekie was scratched on Monday night after crashing into the boards on Sunday.

We will likely have an update from Jon Cooper at practice on Friday regarding Geekie's status.