Beware the trap game: Coyotes at Lightning Preview

Game #49 – Arizona Coyotes (23-20-3) at Tampa Bay Lightning (25-18-5)
Time: 7:00 PM EST
Location: Amalie Arena
Broadcast/Streaming: BSSUN, SCRIPPS, ESPN+, Hulu

Opponent’s Site: Five for Howling

Preview

The Lightning are coming off of a successful road trip and are facing a team on the second half of a back-to-back. Tampa Bay is also just a few days away from a 10-day break. Throw in the fact that their opponent is a Western Conference opponent that has no real bearing on the Lightning’s playoff hopes and you have all of the makings of a classic trap game.

That being said, the Lightning should have a bit of a chip on their shoulder as they lost to the Coyotes in Arizona earlier in the season. Another strong performance by their former goaltending prospect, Connor Ingram, who stopped 31 of 32 shots in the 3-1 win for Arizona. In two games against his former organization, Ingram is 2-0 with a .987 SV% and 0.48 GAA. Ingram should be between the pipes again tonight after Karol Vejmelka took the loss in Sunrise last night. Here’s hoping for a little regression to the mean for Ingram.

*Bonus stat – the franchise leader in wins against the Lightning for Arizona/Winnipeg is Bob Essensa who went 4-0 with a .905 SV% and 2.75 GAA. In his entire career, Essensa never lost against the Bolts, going 6-0 with a .916 SV% and 2.21 SV%.

The Lightning will continue to be without the services of Erik Cernak and Haydn Fleury on defense so it’ll be another game for Emil Lilleberg and Max Crozier in the NHL. The duo has been pretty much a goal-scoring black hole when they’re on the ice. They aren’t producing a lot of offense (1.16 GF/60) but they’re not allowing any either (1.16 GA/60). They’re also allowing the second fewest unblocked shot attempts of any pairing on the team at 33.56/60 (Calvin de Haan and Nick Perbix are at 30.65/60).

Granted, the pair have been together for roughly 51 minutes of very sheltered ice time, but the fact that they’re not getting caved in while they are on the ice allows Coach Cooper to rest his top pairings a bit more than if they were struggling. They had played together quite a bit in Syracuse, so there is something to be said for comfort levels and success on the ice.

Chances are they have one more game after tonight together before the trio of injured defensemen return after the All-Star break, but their play has allowed the team to take their time and not rush Fleury, Cernak, or Mikhail Sergachev back. It also might give general manager Julien BriseBois some flexibility in moving players out to bring other players in at the deadline.

The Bolts would like to bank as many points as possible before heading into the break so it would behoove them to not look past tonight’s game. Good goaltending, team defense, and taking care of the puck has been their roadmap to success over the last few weeks, might as well keep it up tonight.

Stats Match-up

Lines

Tampa Bay Lightning Projected Lines

Forwards
Steven Stamkos – Brayden Point – Nikita Kucherov
Brandon Hagel – Anthony Cirelli – Nick Paul
Conor Sheary – Tyler Motte – Mikey Eyssimont

Mitchell Chaffee – Luke Glendening – Waltteri Merelä

Defenders
Victor Hedman – Darren Raddysh
Calvin de Haan – Nick Perbix
Emil Lilleberg – Max Crozier

Goalies
Andrei Vasilevskiy

Jonas Johansson

Arizona Coyotes Projected Lines

Forwards
Clayton Keller – Nick Bjugstad – Nick Schmaltz

Matias Maccelli – Alex Kerfoot – Lawson Crouse

Jason Zucker – Logan Cooley – Dylan Guenther

Michael Carcone – Jake McBain – Liam O’Brien

Defenders
J.J. Moser – Sean Durzi

Juuso Valimaki – Michael Kesselring

Travis Dermott – Josh Brown

Goalies

Connor Ingram

Karel Vejmelka

Question of the Night

Can Connor Ingram stop being Ken Dryden against the Lightning?