Lightning at Sharks Preview: Bolts can’t afford a glitch against San Jose

Game #69 – Tampa Bay Lightning at San Jose Sharks
Time: 10:30 PM
Location: SAP Center at San Jose
Broadcast/Streaming: BSSUN, NBCSCA, ESPN+, Hulu

Opponent’s Site: Fear the Fin

Preview

It’s the Anthony Duclair coming-home party. Just a couple of weeks ago Duclair was trudging along with the San Jose Sharks. Then, at the deadline he was sent to the Lightning for Jack Thompson and a third-round pick. Thompson has yet to make his Sharks debut, but has picked up where he left off with the Crunch as he’s added thee assists in five games for the AHL Barracuda to his season total.

Duclair, on the other hand, has contributed plenty to the Lightning with three goals and two assists in four games (all wins). The forward’s point streak is actually at six games as he five points (3 goals, 2 assists) in his last two games with San Jose. With only 56 games in a Sharks’ uniform his “Welcome Back” video will likely be pretty short.

The Lightning are hoping that Duclair continues his scoring ways as they enter tonight’s game with a four-game winning streak which was highlighted by wins over the Panthers, Rangers, and Golden Knights. Tampa Bay managed to raise their level of play against tough competition and it has solidified their spot in the playoff race. Now, they have to find a way to keep that energy going against a team that has had more than its fair share of struggles this season.

The San Jose Sharks are not a good team. They are not an average team. As they are currently constructed, they are a bad team. In fact, they might be a historically bad team. With just 39 points through 68 games, they are four points clear of the next worst team, the Chicago Blackhawks, and ten points clear of the third worst team, the Anaheim Ducks. At best, they are looking at adding Macklin Celebrini to their stable of young prospects. At worst, they’re going to have the most miserable season of the Salary Cap Era.

Their competition for that title is the 2016-17 Colorado Avalanche who went an unimpressive 22-56-4. The contest might come down to the wire as those Avs had a .293 points percentage while these Sharks are currently at .287. The good news is that the Sharks might be getting their number one goaltender, Mackenzie Blackwood, back soon. The netminder, who hasn’t played since February 27th, was activated off of injured reserve today. In a corresponding move, former Lightning prospect Magnus Chrona was sent to the AHL.

In the 11 games that Blackwood missed, the Sharks allowed a league-leading 4.82 goals per game and went 1-8-2. Not that they were a defensive juggernaut before his injury as they still were the league’s worst team when it came to goals allowed at 3.82 in the 57 games prior.

Now they have to face a Lightning offense that is really clicking along. The Bolts are averaging 4.83 goals per game in March, first in the league, and have scored five or more in each of their last four games, all wins. Yes, 3 of the 29 goals have been empty net goals, but you only get those if you’re leading at the end of the game, so even if they are empty-scoring calories, they are good ones like Oreo cookies.

Twelve different players have recorded a goal this month with Brayden Point’s seven leading the way. Anthony Cirelli and Tyler Motte have each scored short-handed goals while Steven Stamkos and Point each have two on the power play. The offense is cooking and can’t afford to relax just because the team they are playing isn’t high up on the standings.

There have been moments where the Lightning have struggled to generate energy and urgency against teams outside of the playoffs. Their listless 6-3 loss to the Flames earlier in the month is a prime example of that. However, despite their five-point cushion over the Capitals in the wild card race, they don’t have a lot of wiggle room to throw points away at this point of the season. They are going to have to find a way to get engaged early and pick up the two points on the table tonight.

San Jose is in full spoiler mode and would love to trip the Lightning up, especially in front of a home crowd. It’s on the Bolts to make sure that doesn’t happen.

Stats Match-up

Lines

Tampa Bay Lightning Projected Lines

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

Tanner Jeannot – Luke Glendening – Tyler Motte

Defenders
Victor Hedman – Darren Raddysh
Matt Dumba – Erik Cernak
Calvin de Haan – Nick Perbix

Goalies
Andrei Vasilevskiy

Jonas Johansson

San Jose Sharks Projected Lines

Forwards
Fabian Zetterlund – Mikael Granlund – Klim Kostin
Filip Zadina – William Eklund – Luke Kunin
Thomas Bordeleau – Nico Sturm – Jacob MacDonald
Kevin Labanc – Ryan Carpenter – Justin Bailey

Defenders
Mario Ferraro – Kyle Burroughs
Henry Thrun – Jan Rutta
Marc-Edouard Vlasic – Calen Addison

Goalies
Mackenzie Blackwood (?)
Devin Cooley

The Playoff Race