A taste of that special playoff feeling: Lightning at Canadiens Preview

Game Seventy-Nine: Tampa Bay Lightning (48-24-6) at Montreal Canadiens (46-22-10)

Time: 7:00 PM EST

Location: Centre Bell, The City of a Hundred Steeples

TV/Stream/Radio: The Spot, ESPN+, TSN2, RDS, 102.5 FM, Lightning App

Odds: Lightning -115

Know the Opponents: Eyes on the Prize

The road trip rolls on as the Tampa Bay Lightning look to snap a two-game losing streak. It should be another high-energy building as the Lightning and the Montreal Canadiens still have that top spot in the Atlantic Division within their reach. Health-wise, the home team Canadiens have a little bit of an edge as they are icing what should be their post-season line-up. The Bolts are a little banged up (although Anthony Cirelli was on the ice for the morning skate).

This could be a bit of an inflection point for the Lightning. If they win tonight and keep that top spot within their grasp, they could be all in down the stretch as they try for the home ice advantage in the first few rounds. Should they lose to the Canadiens, perhaps they start managing the roster a bit. In net, maybe they go with Jonas Johansson against the Bruins and the Rangers to give Andrei Vasilevskiy a little bit of rest. That’s for the future, though.

Tonight, the Lightning need to get their legs going early. Montreal, especially the top line, is going to attack them with speed. Ottawa did the same thing on Tuesday, and it caused the Bolts some issues (and some goals against). The last couple of games have been okay for the Lightning for the first couple of shifts, but they’ve struggled to maintain that level of play throughout the period.

They need to be the first to pucks tonight and make sure that they are getting back on defense and holding their shape as Montreal tries to push them back with speed. If the Bolts can control the neutral zone, they can slow down the entries and have the numbers back to deal with any forays into the zone by the Canadiens. The defense has been caught up ice more than a few times over the last couple of games, and that is a game plan for disaster against the youngsters.

Tampa Bay also needs to start getting some more dangerous chances. Outside of the Ottawa game, they’ve done a decent to good job of protecting their own net, but they haven’t been generating a lot of high-danger chances of their own. Not having Cirelli or Brandon Hagel, two players who love the front of the net, is a big part as to why, but the players that are on the ice have to find a way to get in front of the net and generate those chances from dangerous spots.

Finally, they have to get the power play going again. Over the last eight games it’s a powerless 2-for-24. That’s not going to cut it. They have to get the puck into the zone and move it quickly. There is a little too much thinking going on right now and that split second of hesitation is allowing defenders to fill the passing and shooting lanes. Get into the zone, get set up, and get the puck on net. Their power play has been streaky so far this season, so now is a good time for it to get hot again.

There should be a lot of energy in the building. Montreal isn’t just happy to be in the playoffs right now. They have their eyes on the top of the division and want to make some noise in the post-season. Expect them to feed the puck to Cole Caufield a lot tonight as he’s sitting on 49 goals. They want him to hit that 50-goal mark at home. He has four goals in fifteen career games against the Bolts (and nine points overall). Expect him to rack up the shot attempts.

It’ll be a high-paced contest tonight, so sit back and enjoy!

Potential Lines

Tampa Bay Lightning

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Montreal Canadiens

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