At 5:00 p.m. Sunday afternoon, the media assembled for GM Don Sweeney’s announced press conference 22 hours before Monday’s 3 p.m. trade deadline. The summary of Sweeney’s 20-minute dialogue in one sentence: “Nothing to offer, folks.”

Maybe Claude Julien foreshadowed such at his morning press conference when he said: “In the past I can honestly say there were guys wondering if they were going to be here at the trade deadline.”

One Bruin still here Sunday night was Loui Eriksson, the centerpiece of deadline scuttlebutt. Not likely he gets signed by tomorrow after Sweeney said both sides are far apart.

“It’s sort of status quo on that front,” Sweeney said.

So, while the Panthers and Rangers made significant moves to extend their seasons into late April and May, the Black and Gold, barring something dramatic before Monday afternoon, have likely elected to stand pat with their current roster.

How far can this status-quo group go? This week is the best barometer so far this season with 20 games remaining.

Sunday night, it’s the team they likely need to stay with to reach the playoffs – Tampa Bay.

Saturday night, it’s the team they likely need to beat in the playoffs to reach the Cup Final – Washington.

Thursday night, it’s the team they likely need to beat to sip from Lord Stanley – Chicago.

All at home with a Tuesday twirl with Calgary in the mix. Four straight at home with a lot on the line. Both teams entered Sunday night tied for second in the Atlantic Division at 72 points each; the Lightning with a game in hand – and a five-game winning streak.

“I think we’re excited to play those types of games,” Julien said earlier, “and we need to be ready to play here at 6:30.”

The team that played last season was ready to play more than Boston Sunday night in the last game in February. The Lightning that lost to Chicago in last year’s Final looked like a team on course for another Cup run in the 4-1 final.

Here’s what we learned after the only 6:30 start in team history, compliments of NBCSN’s coverage.

First period set the tone

Joonas Kemppainen won a faceoff draw back to Kevan Miller, and the Boston defenseman sent a 40-foot seeing-eye wrist shot past a screened Bishop with Landon Ferraro also getting an assist at 6:01 of the opening period. It was Miller’s fifth of the season.

But it didn’t take long for Tampa to tie the game when Zac Rinaldo took two for an illegal hit to the head of Cedric Paquette at 10:49.

“We can criticize some of the calls tonight,” Julien said with little support for Rinaldo’s reputation, “but that one there I thought was right.”

Former Harvard standout Alex Killorn sent a 15-foot laser past an unflinching Rask at 11:19 for Tampa’s first power-play goal.

Adam McQuaid then picked the wrong time to get his skates tied up when he took a pass at the Tampa blue line and proceeded to stumble backwards. Ryan Callahan and Killorn poked the puck forward for a rink-length 2-on-0 break-in on Rask. After playing tic-tac-toe, Callahan took toe to the bank at 14:39 for the 2-1 lead.

“I thought that start wasn’t bad at all,” Patrice Bergeron said. “But obviously after that, it was all them. They controlled the rest of the game basically, and the bottom line is, we didn’t play our game.”

Bolts strike with four unanswered goals

Callahan added his second – and his team’s second on the power play — at 8:18 of the second when he deflected a Steven Stamkos bullet. Then just two minutes later Stamkos took a solo route to Rask when Brad Marchand hauled him down for the penalty shot. Stamkos put Rask down and out before sliding it home for the 4-1 lead – and his 51st point of the season as he zeroes in on a mega-zeroes deal this summer as an unrestricted free agent. It was Stamkos’ third penalty shot of the season and first goal.

Save for a post clinger at 16:00 by J.T. Brown and it would have been 5-1 after two.

The ‘Bolts were 26-1 this season when leading after two periods.

Stamkos hit the post at the nine-minute mark; otherwise a scoreless third in Tampa’s methodical win.

Bishop vs. Rask

Former Maine goaltender Ben Bishop at 25-17-3 and an NHL-best 2.09 GAA at one end and Tuukka Rask at 24-17-5 and 2.53 at the other. Bishop 3-4-2 lifetime vs. Boston; Rask 9-4-1 against the Lightning. Advantage Big Ben with his 32-save performance.

“They pushed us out of the game, and their goaltender didn’t allow us to get back into it,” Julien said. “We tried, and certainly he stood tall for them.”

Special teams not so special

 Boston went 0-for-6 on the power play and their penalty kill gave up two goals.

“Special teams tonight,” Julien said, “the penalty kill wasn’t good enough for us, and then the power play, although they did generate some chances, you know we didn’t produce.”

November 19 and 21

The Bruins have but one two-game winning streak at home all season. That would be way back on November 19 and 21 when they beat Minnesota and Toronto at TD Garden.

“Too many times we don’t execute a system, and that’s when the breakdowns happen. So we’ve got to be a lot smarter,” Bergeron said. “We’ve definitely got to work on our home record; it’s not good enough.”

Sunday’s loss pushed the TD slate to 13-16-3, all but assuring a less-than .500 home record for 2015-16.

Nikita’s abound

The Lightning sport two Nikita’s on their roster – Kucherov and Nesterov. Not to date yours truly but the only Nikita that ever comes directly to mind is Khrushchev and his shoe-pounding antics at the United Nations in the 1960’s at the height of the Cold War when he didn’t get his way. The Tampa Bay Nikita’s — and company — had their way in Sunday’s cold war at TD Garden, pounding out the easy win.

Julien remains two wins away from tying Bruins record

Only Art Ross had more victories with 387. Regular season victories, that is, as head coach in team history. Sunday night’s loss kept Claude Julien’s total to 385. By week’s end, he’s possibly tied or passes Ross for the most in the team’s 92-year history.

The playoff march through March

“If we’re not going to win at home it’s going to make it pretty hard to get into the playoffs let alone get a good spot,” Landon Ferraro said. “We take a step and we take another step back. So we need to be able to figure that out here pretty quick.”

The team plays 14 games in March, only three at home after this Saturday against the Capitals. Ten of the 14 are against current playoff teams. Boston has three wins against current playoff teams in its last 11 going back to December 16.

“The same thing, I guess, we’ve been talking about all year,” Rask offered. “Try to find our game, play it consistent and try to eliminate mistakes, costly mistakes, and play solid defense. I mean, just all the clichés we’ve been saying all year, has to happen.”

One month left to make it happen.