TAMPA, Fla. — You never want injuries to force a switch up of line combinations, but it’s also an opportunity to see how players can slot into other roles. And the injury to Zemgus Girgensons allowed Tampa Bay Lightning coach Jon Cooper to get a glimpse of forward Pontus Holmberg in a more prominent role.

Holmberg is unquestionably an important piece to the Lightning’s success. He earned “The Backpack” nickname because of the way he can carry the puck and keep it away from defenders. He became a critical part of the team’s matchup possession line last season, and the Lightning weren’t the same team last season when he suffered a freak injury in Buffalo in early April.

With Girgensons — who has centered this season’s possession line while Yanni Gourde is out — not playing, Cooper broke up a line he’s kept intact all season, pushing Holmberg into a top-six role with Brandon Hagel and Anthony Cirelli.

While Holmberg’s job has been mostly doing a lot of dirty work, he showed how how heady he can be as a playmaker, recording three assists and a goal for his first career four-point night in the 6-4 win over the Jets.

The victory extended the Lightning’s home win streak to six games, tying a franchise record. (They also won their first six at home in the 2017-18 and 2020-21 seasons.)

Overcoming long layoff

The Lightning started off strong, opening scoring on Brayden Point’s goal 2:20 into the game, but couldn’t build on their early momentum, playing an overall sloppy first period and entering the first intermission tied at 1.

Cooper admitted he was concerned about the Lightning’s long layoff — they last played Saturday in Utah — because they had lost after multi-day breaks at the New York Rangers and Colorado Avalanche this season.

But Conor Geekie put the Lightning up 2-1 at the 9:43 mark of he second period, scoring his second goal in as many games, finishing off a 2-on-1 rush with Dominic James after James forced a turnover against the wall.

Holmberg sets up three straight

Holmberg recorded assists on three Lightning goals in the final 4:04 of the second period to give Tampa Bay a 5-1 lead.

Anthony Cirelli scored on the power play, the fifth straight game in which the Lightning have scored on the man advantage. With the second power-play unit on the ice, Holmberg took the puck below the right circle and threaded a cross-crease pass to Cirelli along the opposite post.

Holmberg assisted on the next two Lightning goals in 5-on-5. He took a feed from Brandon Hagel at the right circle and made a cross-slot touch pass to John Carlson, setting him up for a one-timer at the left circle that gave the Lightning a 4-1 lead with 1:53 left in the second.

Holmberg then forced a turnover in the Winnipeg end and recorded the secondary assist on Brandon Hagel’s team-high eighth goal with 57 seconds left in the second.

After Winnipeg scored three straight goals, Holmberg then filled an empty net for his fourth goal of the season to seal the win with 1:31 left in the game.

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