Keep Grinding Away: Carolina Hurricanes at Tampa Bay Lightning Preview

Game Thirty-Five: Carolina Hurricanes ( 0 ) at Tampa Bay Lightning (18-13-3)

Time: 7:00 PM EST

Location: Benchmark International Arena, (Is this building now cursed?)

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

Odds: Lightning -120

Know the Opponents: Canes Country

Under less than ideal circumstances, the Tampa Bay Lightning are hosting one of the top teams in the Eastern Conference as the Carolina Hurricanes roll into town following their 4-3 shootout loss to the Florida Panthers last night. While the Canes might be a little tired, the Lightning continue to be quite banged up.

According to Jon Cooper this morning, Anthony Cirelli should be in the line-up tonight. Brandon Hagel is out and Nikita Kucherov is a game-time decision. In order to deal with the injuries, the Bolts recalled Jack Finley from his conditioning stint and had Jakob Pelletier accompany him on the plane ride south to Tampa. With no full morning skate, it’s hard to guess how Coach Cooper will deploy his players tonight.

Those lines you see below? Those are just a guess at how they might play tonight. Even the Yanni Gourde/Pontus Holmberg/Zemgus Girgensons line, which has been a staple this season, was broken up against the Kings. If the Bolts has seven healthy defensemen, Coach Cooper would probably roll 11/7, but a quick scan of the roster indicates that isn’t a possibility.

No matter who gets the call, they’re just going to have to grind out another game. It has been a seemingly endless string of new line-ups and players rotating in and out of the line-up for the Lightning this season as they’ve been hit with a wave of injuries they haven’t seen in years. It has affected their play of late it seems as the offense just isn’t as reliable as it has been in past seasons.

That being said, the fact that they’re still a top defensive team in the league speaks testaments to their dedication in keeping the puck out of the net. Now, they just have to find a way to get the puck in the net. In their loss to the Kings on Thursday, they launched plenty of shots, but maybe didn’t get the net-front presence they needed in order to score the ugly goals. Not having Hagel, a player who has made a career at being in front of the net, hurts in that regards, but there is still plenty of talent available to grind out some goals.

As for the Hurricanes, they are one of the hottest teams in the league right now, having won eight of their last ten games and roll into Florida on a five-game winning streak. They made a couple of big moves in the off-season, trading for K’Andre Miller to bolster their blueline, and signing Nikolaj Ehlers to help with their scoring. While both have been fine additions, one of the biggest factors for their recent success has been a 27-year-old goaltender claimed off of waivers at the beginning of the season.

Welcome to the Brandon Bussi experience. With Frederik Andersen in and out of the line-up as usual, and Pytor Kochetkov not staking a claim to the number one spot, Bussi has provided record-setting goaltending in his brief NHL career. He is 11-1-0 with a 2.05 GAA and .911 SV% through his first twelve games and was the first netminder in league history to post 10 wins in his first 11 starts. Not too shabby for an undrafted prospect out of Western Michigan University.

As usual, no team shoots the puck more than the Hurricanes as they lead the league with 72.55 shot attempts per game at 5v5. Their finishing hasn’t been quite as good in years past as they have posted a 2.67 GF/60 against a 3.07 xGF/60 at even strength so far. They are also doing a fine job of keeping the pressure off of their rotating cast of goaltenders, limiting teams to just 23.6 scoring chances a night. Expect another tough slog of a game for the Lightning, similar to what they’ve been through with Kings and Islanders in recent history.

Potential Lines

Tampa Bay Lightning

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Defense:

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Carolina Hurricanes

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