After limping into the holiday break, the Rangers face-planted coming out of it. Peter Laviolette talked about how there was only one direction his team could go at this point, but the 6-2 beatdown the Blueshirts suffered at the hands of the Lightning on Saturday night at Amalie Arena said otherwise.

By contrast, the Lightning started Friday with the NHL’s top scoring offense (4.00 goals per game), while their overall goal differential (plus-34) was second-best in the East. In 5-on-5 play — their biggest weakness last season, particularly on defense — the Lightning had scored 27 more goals than they’d allowed, also second-best in the league.

The Lightning have returned from the NHL’s mandated holiday break with one more back-to-back to end the month of December. They’re coming off a 4-0 shutout win against the Florida Panthers on Monday night and are hoping to continue building momentum before starting a jam-packed month of January.