Tampa Bay Lightning at New Jersey Devils: GAME #71
Time: 7:00 pm Eastern Time
Location: Amalie Arena
Broadcast/Streaming: BSSUNX, MSGSN, NHL Network
Opponent SBNation Site: All About the Jersey
Preview:
At the beginning of this week, the Tampa Bay Lightning’s chances against the New Jersey Devils seemed bleak. The team was not long after their five-game losing streak and had seven losses in their last ten games, even despite some glimpses of strong performances in couple of games. They were going up against a very good New Jersey team, who had seven wins in their nine last games, and had a chance to top the Carolina Hurricanes in the standings.
That turned upside down this week, as the Lightning defeated the Devils in both games at their rink. What they showed on the ice wasn’t their best performance this season, but they earned the maximum possible amount of points in those game, and also securing the win in the season series against New Jersey.
Statistically, the Lightning play better at their home ice at Amalie Arena. This season they have a .764 point percentage at home, which is good for the second-best result in the league. The Devils, however, are a tough nut to crack, especially in road games. Currently they have a .794 point percentage away from home — the best result in the league. The team, however, have slowed down a bit recently, losing not only to the Bolts, but also to the Florida Panthers yesterday, blowing a 2-0 lead in this game.
The Devils also made some minor changes in their lines last night, swapping Timo Meier and Ondrej Palat, but that didn’t work out well, so we might see some other changes in tonight’s game. Akira Schmid played for New Jersey in the net last night and Vitek Vanecek is expected to play against the Lightning. in his last start against Tampa he had a .873 save percentage and -1.8 GSAx.
The Bolts also did some shuffling in their line combinations last night, scratching Pat Maroon and Nick Perbix, while Michael Eyssimont and Zach Bogosian returned to the line-up. It’s possible that Coach Cooper will continue to rotate out some of the older players with Pierre-Edouard Bellemare potentially getting the night off on a back-to-back. Andrei Vasilevskiy was the back-up last night will be back in the line-up tonight as the starter.
Comparison chart:
New Jersey Devils at Tampa Bay Lightning Comparison
| Game # 71 | Tampa Bay Lightning | New Jersey Devils |
|---|---|---|
| Overall Record | 42-22-6 | 44-18-7 |
| Home Record | 25-6-5 | 19-13-3 |
| Road Record | 17-16-1 | 25-5-4 |
| Goals For | 243 | 239 |
| Goals Against | 211 | 185 |
| xGF | 240.38 | 250.86 |
| xGA | 220.56 | 198.87 |
| PP% | 25.7% | 21.2% |
| PK% | 79.6% | 81.8% |
Tampa Bay Lightning Potential Lines
Forward Lines
Brandon Hagel – Brayden Point – Nikita Kucherov
Ross Colton – Steven Stamkos – Nick Paul
Tanner Jeannot – Anthony Cirelli – Alex Killorn
Michael Eyssimont – Pierre-Edouard Bellemare – Corey Perry
Defense Pairings
Victory Hedman – Zach Bogosian
Mikhail Sergachev – Darren Raddysh
Ian Cole – Erik Cernak
Goaltenders
Andrei Vasilevskiy
Brian Elliott
New Jersey Devils Potential Lines
Forward Lines
Tomas Tatar – Nico Hischier – Dawson Mercer
Ondrej Palat – Jack Hughes – Jesper Bratt
Timo Meier – Erik Huala – Jesper Boqvist
Yegor Sharangovich – Michael McLeod – Curtis Lazar
Defense Pairings
Jonas Siegenthaler – Dougie Hamilton
Ryan Graves – John Marino
Brendan Smith – Damon Severson
Goalies
Vitek Vanecek
Akira Schmid
