Oilers at Lightning Game Preview: Beware the beaten and battered team

Game Fifty-seven: Edmonton Oilers (34-19-4) at Tampa Bay Lightning (32-20-4)

Time: 7:30 PM EST

Location: Amalie Arena, Tampa

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

Odds: Lightning -110

Know the Opponents: Oilers Nation

The Tampa Bay Lightning came out of their 4 Nations Face-Off break and kept the good times rolling as they took down the Seattle Kraken, 4-1. The Edmonton Oilers – not so much. In their back-to-back restart over the weekend they lost to the Flyers (6-3) and the Capitals (7-3). The joy from the tournament-winning overtime goal for Connor McDavid has faded quickly for the league’s best player.

Despite the three-game losing streak (they lost their last game before the break to Colorado) the Oilers are still secure in their playoff spot as they sit in the second spot in the Pacific, three points up on Los Angeles, and nine points up on Vancouver, the team currently in the second wild-card spot. So, there is no panic in Edmonton, well, outside of the normal amount of panic in a Canadian market.

Despite, the lackluster defense of late, the Oilers are a formidable foe, and the Bolts can’t take them lightly. As a matter of fact, they should probably be even more wary of a team coming off of two lopsided losses. McDavid has acknowledged that the team is a little flat right now, but they have the talent to turn it around in a heartbeat. Especially considering that a lot of their issues are self-inflected (hey, Lightning fans know what that’s like).

After a pretty even start, Washington kind of ran them out of the building as the Oilers allowed multiple odd-skater rushes. If they can clean that up and help their goaltenders out, the Lightning could find themselves in a spot of trouble. The flip side is that the Lightning have the style of play that can keep the bad times rolling for their Canadian brothers. Even when they were getting outshot by the Kraken on Sunday, the Bolts had a good game in the neutral zone, creating some transition rushes.

Containing the Edmonton offense is always a troublesome endeavor, but if the Lightning can hold them at the bluelines it’ll go a long way to stifling the attack. The return of J.J. Moser to the blueline should help with that as he is one of the team’s more aggressive players at the entry point. They’ve let teams rack up the shots of late, allowing more than 35 shots against in each of their last three games. That could be an issue going up against McDavid, Zach Hyman, and Leon Draisaitl.

The Bolts shook off a little rust against Seattle, and did get better as the game went along.

“Our execution, we’ll just keep getting better coming off of this break,” is how Ryan McDonagh put it after the win. He complimented his teammates compete level and their dedication to blocking shots. They will have to make sure to keep that going because Edmonton is going to come out with their hair on fire in the first period.

The offense took a little while to get going, but they ended up with four goals and three of them came in their usual manner – special teams goal, top-line goal, and an empty-net goal. It was nice to see that they continued the trend of getting a goal from the bottom six as Cameron Atkinson and Luke Glendening hooked up for the third goal on the night. If they can keep that going, it’ll take a lot of pressure off of the top six.

Speaking of the top six, it looks like Nick Paul will fill the winger spot on Anthony Cirelli’s line. While they struggled a bit against Seattle (outshot 6-3 and out-chanced 7-4) but have been effective as a trio on the season with a 57% expected goal share. Having Zemgus Girgensons at the third-line center probably isn’t the best solution, but The Hammer has been driving a little more offense of late, and having a playmaker like Gage Goncalves, and a shooter like Mitchell Chaffee, should help him keep that going.

The Lightning are putting their season-long five-game winning streak on the line tonight against a determined Edmonton team. The Bolts have to be careful with the puck and make sure they keep the Oilers in front of them. Smart plays in the offensive zone are going to be the key to that as Edmonton will be looking to flee the zone the second they have possession.

It should be a fun night tonight, but please remember it’s a Hulu/ESPN+ exclusive tonight – no local TV. Do with that information what you will (just remember, no posting links to streaming sites in the comments).

Potential Lines

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Edmonton Oilers

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