The Lightning were dead in the water earlier this week…

And after this weekend, they’re in 6th place in the Eastern Conference — having beaten one of the East’s big boys and trumped the Sewage-savaged Islanders today in a late-afternoon matinee at Times Palace.

14 games left — and Tampa Bay is home for 9 of them, ladies and gents. Not only that, but the Bolts will not have to travel further north than the Carolinas for their remaining games (how I pitty the Western Conference right now — even in-division games are spread out throughout the continent).

It’s still going to come down to the play of this team around one man, and how well that one man responds. I just hope that someone will tell him that he can’t stop playing well (if he continues to do so) once the playoffs begin.