Lightning at Oilers Preview and GDT: The road trip slogs onward

Game #31 – Tampa Bay Lightning (13-12-5) at Edmonton Oilers (13-12-1)
Time: 9:00 PM EST
Location: Rogers Place
Broadcast/Streaming: BSSUN, ESPN+, Hulu

Opponent’s Site: Edmonton Oilers

Preview

It’s kind of funny how things can change rather quickly in the NHL. The last time the Lightning and the Oilers met (November 18th) Edmonton was the epitome of a struggling team. Sure, they had won three in a row, but they weren’t that far removed from losing to the San Jose Sharks. They lost 6-4 to the Lightning that night, then lost to Florida and Carolina. Pundits were writing their obituaries and jumping on the Arizona bandwagon.

However, since then, the Oilers remembered they had the best player in the world on their team and their goaltender remembered his job was to stop pucks. They have also won 8 in a row, one away from their team record of nine in a row. The Lightning are standing in the way of their franchise history. It’s really interesting to see how they’ve pretty much turned every aspect of their game around.

From October 10th to November 22nd, the Oilers went 5-12-1 with 2.94 goals for (21st in the league), 4.00 goals against (30th), a 21.9% power play (11th), and 74.7% penalty kill (25th). Rather pedestrian numbers for a team with as much talent as they have under their roster. It cost Jay Woodcroft his job and pretty much made them the laughing stock of the league.

Since then, they haven’t lost, knocking off eight wins in a row. As you might expect, their numbers have shot up. They are scoring 4.75 goals per game (1st), allowing just 1.63 goas (1st) while their power play is a robust 44% (1st) and they’re killing 96.2% of the penalties against them (2nd). Connor McDavid has 22 points over the last eight games while Stuart Skinner has a .934 SV% and 1.70 GA. Much like they weren’t as bad as the numbers from early in the season, they’re aren’t THIS good. Things will level out somewhere in the middle, and they will actually lose a game. Hopefully, it’s tonight!

The eight-game winning streak has brought them back into the playoff race as they are now sitting a point out of the second wild card spot with two games in hand. Can they bridge the gap in the Pacific and get up into the top three of that division? That might be tough considering the three teams holding down those spots are Vegas, Vancouver, and Los Angeles.

It’s going to be a tough game for the Bolts tonight even if everyone is feeling better. The Oilers are playing with a tremendous amount of confidence and they’re not likely to blow three leads in a game like they did last time against the Lightning.

If the Bolts play like they have over the last few weeks, it’s not going to be a pretty night. They have to find a way to transform the chances they’re generating into actual goals, especially at 5v5. Over the last few games they’ve managed to get shots on net and scoring chances, but the finishing hasn’t been there. Unless Andrei Vasilevskiy absolutely stands on his head, that trend isn’t going to do it against Edmonton.

It hasn’t been talked about much since their performance at home has masked things a bit, but their power play on the road is in a major funk. Overall their road power play is at 23.1%, but over their last six road games they are a dismal 1-for-20 with an extra skater. So they’re not scoring at 5v5 and they’re not scoring on the power play. It’s no wonder they’re 1-5 on the road recently.

Victor Hedman will likely be a game-time decision tonight. While he was at practice yesterday, he was not participating in any of the drills. It’s not all bad news as Conor Sheary was taking line rushes with Nick Paul and Steven Stamkos, so there is a chance he’s back in the line-up tonight.

Even with their recent inconsistent play, it’s not often that the odds are stacked against the Lightning, but tonight appears to be one of those nights. Let’s see how they do as an underdog.

Stats Match-up

Lines

Tampa Bay Lightning Projected Lines

Forwards
Alex Barré-Boulet – Brayden Point – Nikita Kucherov
Tanner Jeannot – Anthony Cirelli – Brandon Hagel
Steven Stamkos – Nick Paul – Conor Sheary

Tyler Motte – Luke Glendening – Michael Eyssimont

Defenders
Mikhail Sergachev – Erik Cernak

Calvin de Haan – Darren Raddysh

Haydn Fleury – Nick Perbix

Goalies
Andrei Vasilevskiy

Jonas Johansson

Edmonton Oilers Projected Lines

Forwards
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins – Connor McDavid – Zach Hyman

Evander Kane – Leon Draisaitl – Connor Brown

Mattias Janmark – Ryan McLeod – Warren Foegele

Sam Gagner – James Hamblin – Derek Ryan

Defenders
Darnell Nurse – Cody Ceci

Mattias Ekholm – Evan Bouchard

Brett Kulak – Vincent Desharnais

Goalies
Stuard Skinner

Calvin Pickard

Question of the Night

Who is going to step up on defense if Victor Hedman is out of the game?