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Red Wings at Lightning Game Preview: Embrace the grind

Jan 21, 2024; Detroit, Michigan, USA; Detroit Red Wings center Dylan Larkin (71) handles the puck during the third period at Little Caesars Arena. Mandatory Credit: Brian Bradshaw Sevald-USA TODAY Sports

Game Forty-four: Detroit Red Wings (21-19-4) at Tampa Bay Lightning (24-16-3)

Time: 7:00 PM EST

Location: Amalie Arena, Tampa

TV/Stream/Radio: FDSNSUN, FDSNDET, ESPN+, 102.5 FM, Lightning App

Odds: Lightning -205

Know the Opponents: Winging it in Motown

As Coach Cooper pointed out following the win against Anaheim, the Lightning have been spending more time with their teammates than their families of late. They’ve played 9 games over the first 16 days which included two back-to-backs. It’s not only the number of games, but it’s also been the travel. Their road trips have been short, as has been their one home-stand (two games). It seems they’re either playing a game or traveling from city to city.

It’s worn on them a bit (two out of the last four games going past regulation hasn’t helped), and their coach isn’t afraid to say that they’re a tired team. The good news is that they have a couple of multi-day breaks coming up before the end of the month; the bad news is that they still have seven more games to play over the next thirteen days, including two sets of back-to-backs.

Adding to the fun is that most of those games are against teams bunched around them in the playoff race. They have two games against the Red Wings (five points behind them), one game against the Canadiens (three points behind them), and one against the Maple Leafs (seven points ahead of them). If the Lightning want to solidify their spot in the standings, they’re going to need to find a way to win the majority of them.

Unfortunately, they have no choice but to embrace the grind. Victor Hedman summed it up after the game,

“This is the grind, but this is what we love doing: playing hockey games. This month has been very extreme with all the travel and the back and forth, but we’re not complaining when we’re winning games like this.”

While the young Ducks took them to the limit, there were some positives in the game that we haven’t seen of late. The Lightning didn’t wait for half of the game to go by before they got engaged. It was a pretty strong start for them, even if Anaheim took the early lead. Second, the revamped power play converted twice. Despite being one of the top teams in the league in regards to the power play, it had become a little stale of late, so they shuffled some players around and basically let Nikita Kucherov stay on the ice the entire time.

The Bolts had 8:42 of power play, and Kucherov was on the ice for every second. It paid off as the Lightning racked up 12 shots and 10 scoring chances with the extra skater, numbers that we haven’t seen over the past few weeks. The shuffled units seemed to energize the entire team and the result was a couple of goals.

They’re going to need to keep it going against one of the hottest teams in the league right now. The Red Wings roll into town with an 8-2-0 record since they replaced old friend Derek Lalonde with Todd McLellan behind the bench. One of the biggest keys to their success has been the power play. Detroit isn’t just hot with the extra skater, they are on an incendiary streak as they have converted 17 of their last 34 chances. Dylan Larkin is leading the way with five of those goals, but they’ve spread it out a bit as at three other players have scored multiple times, and seven players overall have at least one power play goal.

The game plan is simple – don’t take a penalty.

Their 5v5 play under McLellan hasn’t been as dominating, but they are doing a good job of limiting scoring chances, especially high-danger ones since he took over. The Lightning are going to have to fight through it to score tonight, as the Wings won’t be as passive in the neutral zone as the Ducks were on Thursday. They haven’t been an overly physical team on the season, averaging just 16.87 per game which is 29th in the league, they’ve just relied on positioning to limit the chances against.

Adding to the level of difficulty tonight is the probability that Erik Cernak probably won’t play. He’s listed as day-to-day, and Max Crozier was recalled yesterday to fill in for him. The Lightning patched it together against the Ducks, but it will be interesting to see how their fare moving forward if they’re top shutdown pairing is broken up for ahwile.

They have no choice but to play out the streak prior to the long break next month for the 4 Nations Face-off, so they might as well find a way to win these games. If they keep grinding out points, it’ll make the push for a playoff spot a lot easier over the final couple of months.

Potential Lines

Tampa Bay Lightning

Forwards:

Jake GuentzelBrayden PointNikita Kucherov
Brandon HagelAnthony CirelliNick Paul
Mitchell ChaffeeConor GeekieCameron Atkinson
Zemgus GirgensonsLuke GlendeningMikey Eyssimont

Defense:

Victor HedmanDarren Raddysh
Ryan McDonaghNick Perbix (?)
Emil LillebergMax Crozier (?)

Goaltenders:

Andrei Vasilevskiy
Jonas Johansson

Opponents

Forwards:

Marco KasperDylan LarkinLucas Raymond
Alex DeBrincatAndrew CoppPatrick Kane
Jonatan BerggrenJ.T. CompherVlad Tarasenko
Michael RasmussenJoe VelenoChristian Fischer

Defense:

Ben ChiarotMo Seider
Simon EdvinssonAlbert Johansson
Erik GustafssonJustin Holl

Goaltenders:

Cam Talbot
Ville Husso
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