The Tampa Bay Lightning aren’t the only team enjoying some rest and relaxation. With several teams on their bye week, there was only one game played last night as Ottawa came back to beat Nashville in overtime. Tonight there are only two games on the docket (neither that affect the Lightning. Wednesday has three games, including Detroit, one of the teams chasing the Bolts for the third spot in the Atlantic Division.
Toronto and the New York Islanders will sneak in an extra game following the festivities (although the Bolts will still have two games in hand on the Leafs), but for the most part Tampa Bay won’t lose any ground in the playoff race despite not playing for 10 days.
There will be a lot of hockey for the Bolts when they do get back on the ice. They start off with a back-to-back on the road and have another one towards the end of the month (also on the road). In all, they’ll play 12 games in 23 days in February with just one against a Western Conference opponent. They do get to enjoy a couple of two-day breaks, though, so it’s not a complete grind.
They do have games against the teams ahead of them in the division as they take on the Bruins in Boston and Florida at home. Games against the Islanders (x2), the Flyers, the Capitals, and the Devils could have interesting implications in the Wild Card race. While they play three division leaders (Boston, Colorado, and the New York Rangers) they also play the two teams at the bottom in the Eastern Conference, Ottawa and Columbus.
While they do start things off with a four-game road trip, they do follow it up with four at home, before going back on the road for three. In an odd quirk, they have no Friday games and just one Saturday game at home (February 17th against the Panthers).
If the Lightning are able to duplicate their success from January (they went 9-3) it would go a long way in strengthening their chances for a playoff spot. Most of the analytics sites have them around 88 – 91% to make the playoffs right now. It’s amazing what a couple of good weeks of hockey can do for a team’s chances.
It’s going to be an interesting race for the playoffs and the Lightning haven’t left themselves much wiggle room, so they can’t afford to let too many games slip away. Enjoy the hockey (once it returns).
Hockey News
Kucherov First Star of the Week [Raw Charge]
He’s number one in your hearts and number one on the charts!
Million dollar bidding war underway for hockey cards found in basement [CTV News]
Got a few million to burn on some pieces of cardboard? Head on over to Heritage Auctions and bid on a case (16 boxes) of 1979-80 O-Pee-Chee hockey cards. That would be the set that holds the Holy Grail of Hockey Cards – Wayne Gretzky’s rookie card. Based on correlation, there could be up to 20 Gretzky rookies in those boxes. Not bad for some boxes that have been sitting in a basement for 40 years. The high bid at time of writing was $1.325 million.
Orlando Solar Bears specialty jerseys up for auction [Orlando Solar Bears’ Twitter]
The Pink Whitney jerseys and the White Out jerseys the Solar Bears wore in recent games are up for auction. Go ahead and bid away!
Solar Bears drop game to Gladiators, 3-2 [ECHL]
The Gladiators built a three-goal lead over the first two periods. Orlando almost pulled it out late in the third when Mitchell Hoelscher, a former draft pick of the New Jersey Devils, scored twice in 9 seconds to bring Orlando within a goal. Sadly, they couldn’t find the equalizer. The Solar Bears are in a rough stretch where they are winless in their last 7 games (0-3-3-1).
Ersson, Bedard lead All-Star team of 1st-year players [NHL.com]
Emil Lilleberg is off to a solid start in his Lightning career, but the rookie probably isn’t going to knock Brock Faber and Luke Hughes out of their All-Star spots as determined by NHL.com. Connor Bedard, Adam Fantilli, and Marco Rossi round out the forwards while Samuel Ersson is in net for their rookie squad.
Angela James to receive Carnegie Initiative’s Lifetime Achievement Award [The Hockey News]
One of the greatest players in the history of the sport, Hall of Famer Angela James is set to receive another award as the Carnegie Initiative is set to honor her for what she’s done to honor the institutions commitment for “work to ensure that hockey is inclusive, supportive, and welcoming to all”.
2024 Midseason NHL Draft Rankings [The Athletic]
Macklin Celebrini remains on top of the rankings while Riley Patterson is number 64.
USA Hockey Mandates Neck Guards [USA Hockey]
USA Hockey had strongly recommended the use of the neck protectors, but on Sunday they approved legislation making it a requirement for players in all age classifications in games and practices effective August 1st, 2024.
Head coaches in waiting: 4 AHL coaches in line for NHL jobs [The Hockey Writers]
Former Crunch coach Ben Groulx gets a shout-out at the end of this post about AHL coaches who might be ready for the big time. Groulx isn’t currently coaching, but is still technically part of the Lightning organization.
