Game #40 – Tampa Bay Lightning (18-16-5) at Minnesota Wild (16-16-4)
Time: 8:00 PM EST
Location: Xcel Energy Center
Broadcast/Streaming: BSSUN, ESPN+, Hulu
Opponent’s Site: Hockey Wilderness
Preview
If you thought the Lightning were going through a tough time in regards to injuries, please direct your attention to the Minnesota Wild. They currently have five players on IR and one on LTIR. It’s not like these are back of the rotation players either. How about their top goaltender (Filip Gustavsson), their top winger (Kiril Kaprizov), their captain (Jared Spurgeon), and a top-six forward in Mats Zuccarello. Depth players Vinni Lettieri and Jonas Brodin are also out.
The injuries have allowed some of their younger players like Brock Faber to shine, though. Picked up in a trade prior to last season with Los Angeles, Faber has ascended to the top pairing and has 16 points (2 goals, 14 assists) in 36 games while averaging 24:41 of ice time.
Some former Bolts have also found playing time with the Wild. Florida Man himself, Pat Maroon, has had a bit of a bounceback season with 14 points (4 goals, 10 assists) while Zach Bogosian is playing just under 16 minutes a game.
So don’t expect any sympathy for the Lightning’s banged-up blueline from the Wild faithful. The good news is that the Lightning were able to call up some help so they won’t be going with the odd 13-forward/5-defensemen rotation tonight. There is a chance they go 11/7 with both Sean Day and Declan Carlilie entering the line-up. That would allow Coach Cooper to control their minutes and match-ups, while also mixing up his forward lines a bit.
The Lightning held an optional morning skate today so we didn’t get a preview of the possible lines, and the coaching staff was vague in how they would roll out the lines tonight. Last game we did see them split up Brayden Point and Nikita Kucherov in order to spark some 5v5 scoring. With the odd line-up due to the injuries it’s hard to judge the new combinations on one game, but it’s a good idea to try with the way they have been scuffling a bit.
We have two teams meeting up that are on the struggle bus a bit, but still harboring dreams of making the playoffs. As we approach the halfway mark of the season, it’s time for the Lightning to start overcoming these obstacles instead of smashing headfirst into them.
Stats Match-up
| Game #40 | Tampa Bay Lightning | Minnesota Wild |
| Overall Record | 18-16-5 | 16-16-4 |
| Home Record | 11-5-3 | 10-6-2 |
| Road Record | 7-11-2 | 6-10-2 |
| Goals For | 127 | 111 |
| Goals Against | 135 | 116 |
| xGF | 123.33 | 110.60 |
| xGA | 128.40 | 106.08 |
| Power Play | 29.8% | 18.2% |
| Penalty Kill | 80.4% | 72.8% |
| Last 10 Games | 5-5-0 | 6-4-0 |
Lines
Tampa Bay Lightning Projected Lines
Forwards
Steven Stamkos – Anthony Cirelli – Nikita Kucherov
Brandon Hagel – Brayden Point – Nick Paul
Mikey Eyssimont – Tyler Motte – Conor Sheary
Tanner Jeannot – Luke Glendening – Austin Watson
Defenders
Victor Hedman – Nick Perbix
Calvin de Haan – Darren Raddysh
Philippe Myers – Sean Day (?)
Goalies
Andrei Vasilevskiy
Jonas Johansson
Minnesota Wild Projected Lines
Forwards
Marcus Johansson – Joel Eriksson Ek – Matt Boldy
Nic Petran – Marco Rossi – Ryan Hartman
Pat Maroon – Frederick Gaudreau – Brandon Duhaime
Jake Lucchini – Connor Dewar – Sammy Walker
Defenders
Jacob Middleton – Brock Faber
Alex Goligoski – Zach Bogosian
Jon Merrill – Dakota Mermis
Goalies
Marc-Andre Fleury
Zane McIntyre
