Carolina Hurricanes at Tampa Bay Lightning Preview and Game Day Thread

Game # 7: Carolina Hurricanes (3-3-0) at Tampa Bay Lightning (2-2-2)
Time: 7:00 PM
Location: Amalie Arena
Broadcast/Streaming: BSSUN, ESPN+,

Opponent’s Site: Category Five Hockey

Preview

While the Hurricanes, with their shoot-first, shoot-always mentality, are always a troublesome opponent for the Lightning, Tampa Bay may be catching them at the perfect time in their schedule. Carolina is sixth and final game on a road trip that started in California and then swung up to Seattle and through Colorado on their way to Tampa. Not exactly an ideal start to the season for them and some of the wear and tear might be showing up as they lost 7-4 to Seattle and 6-4 to Colorado.

Part of the problem has been in net as Frederik Andersen hasn’t played since last Tuesday when he took a shot off the facemask in the first period in their tilt against the San Jose Sharks. Antti Raanta and Pytor Kochetkov split time in net over those last two losses. Even before he was sidelined, Andersen wasn’t exactly putting up Vezina-caliber numbers. Their 4.44 GA/G is the highest number in the league while their .818 SV% is last by a healthy margin.

They have managed to win three games with their usual fire-wagon style of hockey as they lead the league in shot attempts and unblocked shots. They are third in the league in shots on net and scoring chances and fourth in high-danger chances. Again, their style of play has been a headache for the Lightning over the years and with the defensive misadventures the Bolts have put forth over their first six games, it could be an exciting night of hockey. Heck, ESPN’s attempt at a Red Zone channel may just be stuck on this game all night long as the teams trade scoring chances at will.

While the Lightning are still allowing too many shots per game (36.57/60) they have done a decent job recently of keeping most of the attempts to the perimeter and they are starting to drop in the expected goals against column. Currently they are at 3.88 xGA/60, which is 27th in the league. Not great, but better than where they were a week ago.

Their most recent game against Toronto will be a good blueprint for what they can expect from the Hurricanes tonight and if they can keep the middle of their ice clear and force Carolina to launch shots from distance, the Bolts should have a chance to counter against a struggling defense. As much as Toronto dominated some shot statistics on Saturday, the Lightning still had their chances throughout the night, but couldn’t get one by Joseph Woll. In theory, they should have a better shot against Andersen or Raanta.

It would help if some of those chances came from the bottom-six on offense. There were some sparks of life from the trio of Nick Paul, Tanner Jeannot, and Waltteri Merela who generated 8 scoring chances in just under 9 minutes together on Saturday night. Based on the line rushes at the morning practice, it appears Anthony Cirelli and Nick Paul have switched, with Cirelli centering Jeannot and Merela, a combination that should play well together.

It should be a fun one tonight.

Stats Match-up

Lines

Tampa Bay Lightning Projected Lines

Forwards
Alex Barré-Boulet – Brayden Point – Nikita Kucherov
Steven Stamkos – Nick Paul – Brandon Hagel
Tanner Jeannot – Anthony Cirelli – Waltteri Merelä
Conor Sheary – Luke Glendening – Michael Eyssimont

Defenders
Victor Hedman – Erik Cernak
Mikhail Sergachev – Nick Perbix
Calvin de Haan – Darren Raddysh

Goalies
Jonas Johansson
Matt Tomkins

Carolina Hurricanes Projected Lines

Forwards

Michael Bunting – Teuvo Teravainen – Martin Necas

Stefan Nosen – Jesperi Kotkaniemi – Seth Jarvis

Jordan Martinook – Jordan Staal – Jesper Fast

Brendan Lemieux – Jack Drury – Cal Bureke

Defenders
Jaccob Slavin – Brent Burns

Brady Skjei – Jalen Chatfield

Dmitry Orlov – Tony DeAngelo

Goalies
Antti Raanta

Frederik Andersen

Question of the Night

Will Brayden Point be “On Point” and score his first goal of the night?