Maple Leafs at Lightning Preview: I heart… Playoffs

Game #82 – Toronto Maple Leafs at Tampa Bay Lightning
Time: 7:00 PM EST
Location: Amalie Arena
Broadcast/Streaming: TNT, TRU, MAX

Opponent’s Site: Pension Plan Puppets

Preview

We all know there is really only one reason to watch this game, right? Nikita Kucherov’s quest to become the first winger in NHL history to record 100 assists in a season is all that’s really left on the table. Would it be nice to see if the Lightning could eliminate some of the boneheaded plays that have crept back into their play since they’ve clinched a playoff spot? Well, yes, of course it would, but in the end it doesn’t really matter.

Everything changes this weekend. No matter how much the players talk about wanting to stay engaged and focused during meaningless games, we all know that it’s hard to manufacture desperation on the ice. The good news is that starting on Saturday (or Sunday) there will be no need to manufacture any emotions, playoff hockey will take care of that.

The Lightning had two goals after clinching a playoff spot, stay healthy and focus on the fundamentals. They really accomplished neither. Luke Glendening, Haydn Fleury, Jonas Johansson, and Tyler Motte will be on the sidelines for tonight’s game, which will make for some interesting line combinations.

Along with the players listed above, Brandon Hagel and Anthony Cirelli were held out of practice for “body maintenance” on Tuesday so we really won’t know what the lines are going to be until warm-ups (it was an optional skate this morning). There is a chance that Steven Stamkos slides to the center on the second line, which would push Cirelli down to the third and Nick Paul to the fourth. A small bonus would be that Conor Sheary and Austin Watson would get a little playing time before the playoffs. It’s nice when you can enter a playoff series without any of your players having sat on the sidelines for too long.

On the other side of the ice, well, the Leafs are pretty much in the same boat as the Lightning. Their spot has been locked up for awhile and their focus was primarily on an individual quest – Auston Matthews pursuit of 70 goals. Sadly, the Arizona-born forward did not attain his goal last night against the Panthers so expect his teammates to keep feeding him all night long. (For what it’s worth, Hard Rock Bets has his shot total at 4.5 tonight with the over the heavy favorite at -145.)

While this game doesn’t really mean anything, neither team really cares for the other so their should be some inbred hostility that can amp the Lightning’s competitive level up from where it’s been over the last week or so.

All-in-all it’s a nice night to say good bye to the regular season and get ready for the real fun. It’s been a tough season, but in the end the goal was achieved. The Lightning are heading to the playoffs, and that’s really all that mattered over the last six-plus months.

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 – Mitchel Chaffee

Tanner Jeannot – ? – Conor Sheary

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

Goalies
Andrei Vasilevskiy (?)

Matt Tomkins

Toronto Maple Leafs Projected Lines

Forwards

Tyler Bertuzzi – Auston Matthews – Mitch Marner
Matthew Knies – John Tavares – William Nylander
Nicholas Robertson – Pontus Holmberg – Noah Gregor
Connor Dewar – David Kämpf – Ryan Reaves

Defenders

Morgan Rielly – Ilya Lyubushkin
Simon Benoit – Jake McCabe
Joel Edmundson – Timothy Liljegren

Goalies

Ilya Samsonov

Joe Woll