Islanders at Lightning Preview: More like the last time they met, not the first time

Game #73 – New York Islanders at Tampa Bay Lightning
Time: 7:00 PM EST
Location: Amalie Arena
Broadcast/Streaming: BSSUN, MSGSN, ESPN+, HULU

Opponent’s Site: Lighthouse Hockey

Preview

We’re almost there, folks. The end of the regular season is approaching faster than it seems as the Lightning hit the ten games to go mark. It’s actually coming really fast considering Tampa Bay has five games over the next eight days. While another trip to the post season isn’t quite guaranteed just yet, they are inching closer to it every day.

By my calculations, their magic number is 11 right now, and they control their own destiny. A win tonight over the Islanders will be another big step into wrapping up their seventh consecutive trip to the playoffs. They entered the month of March with a tenuous hold on a spot, but went 8-1-1 over their first ten games played to really tighten their grip on the first position in the wild card race. They’ve even narrowed the gap to third-place Toronto and with two games against the Maple Leafs next month, have a shot at leap-frogging them.

They can’t get caught looking too far ahead, though. The Islanders are in town tonight and have entered the “must win” portion of their season. With ten games to go they are five points out of the second wild card spot with two teams to jump over if they want to make it. A win over the Panthers their last time out gave them a much needed shot of optimism after a six game-losing streak earlier in the month really knocked them out of competition.

Their offense kind of evaporated during their tough times as they were shut out three times in an eight-game stretch. It hasn’t been all bad, though. Cal Clutterbuck set a NHL record their last time out:

So he’s got that going for him.

Standings-wise, the Islanders are the more desperate team and the Lightning have to find a way to match that energy. We saw it in the Boston game when the Bolts came out and hit everything wearing a Bruins jersey and were outskating them to loose pucks. That’s the type of play we need to see tonight for them to notch another two points and continue to reduce that magic number.

It’s the third meeting of the season for the two teams with the Islanders taking the first match 6-2 in a game that might have been uglier than the final score. Tampa Bay returned the favor a few weeks later with a 4-2 win on the road with Nikita Kucherov picking up three points.

Broadcast note – the game is on Bally’s. If you tune in and the Rays are still playing, they will join the Lightning game in progress. If you have the Bally’s app, you can stream it in its entirety.

Stats Match-up

Lines

Tampa Bay Lightning Projected Lines

Forwards
Anthony Duclair – Brayden Point – Nikita Kucherov
Steven Stamkos – Anthony Cirelli – Brandon Hagel
Mikey Eyssimont – Nick Paul – Mitchell Chaffee

Tanner Jeannot – Luke Glendening – Tyler Motte

Defenders
Victor Hedman – Darren Raddysh
Matt Dumba – Erik Cernak
Emil Lilleberg – Nick Perbix

Goalies
Andrei Vasilevskiy

Jonas Johansson

Lines based on how they started last game. Why fix what’s not broken, eh? We’ll double check after the morning skate to see if there is anything tweaked.

New York Islanders Projected Lines

Forwards
Brock Nelson – Bo Horvat – Kyle Palmieri

Anders Lee – Mathew Barzal – Hudson Fasching

Casey Cizikas – J.G. Pageau – Pierre Engvall

Matt Martin – Kyle MacLean – Cal Clutterbuck

Defenders
Adam Pelech – Noah Dobson

Alexander Romanov – Robert Bortuzzo

Mike Reilly – Ryan Pulock

Goalies
Semyon Varlamov

Ilya Sorokin

Lines per Daily Faceoff.

The Playoff Race