Panthers at Lightning Preview and GDT: Bolts need to keep things going

Game #36 – Florida Panthers (19-12-2) at Tampa Bay Lightning (17-13-5)
Time: 7:00 PM EST
Location: Amalie Arena
Broadcast/Streaming: BSSUN, ESPN+, BSFL

Opponent’s Site: Litter Box Cats

Preview

After a three-day break, the Tampa Bay Lightning are back on the ice to face their in-state rivals, the Florida Panthers. For the Bolts, it’s a chance to keep their winning streak, now at three games, going. In their way is a team that is just one point ahead of them in the standings (albeit with two games in hand).

After a relatively strong start, the Panther have dropped four of their last six games as they struggled on a West Coast road swing. In their losses, offense has been an issue as they were shut out twice (by Seattle and Vancouver) and held to just one goal twice (Calgary and St. Louis). They did pick up a win against Vegas right before the break to stop the bleeding a bit, but the hiccup in their season has allowed the Bolts to narrow the gap a bit.

For the Lightning, the three-game winning streak has been highlighted by the play of Nick Paul (6 points) and Nikita Kucherov (5 points). Since getting bumped up to the top line, Paul has found his groove with 1 goal and 3 assists at even strength, giving Coach Cooper a chance to spread his scoring out by putting Steven Stamkos (4 assists) on the second line with Brandon Hagel and Anthony Cirelli. While that secondary trio hasn’t scored yet, they are controlling the scoring chances (54.55%) and shot attempts (59.46%) while they are on the ice.

It’s possible that the Bolts have stumbled upon a combination that allows them to match lines throughout a game and not have to rely on the top line for all of their offense (they’ve gotten goals from Michael Eyssimont, Luke Glendening, and Tyler Motte over this stretch). Coach Cooper has stressed this stretch of play, where they have five out of six games at home, as an important one for their season. They started off strong, now they just have to kick it back into gear after a couple of days off of the ice.

There was no official report of the status of defenseman Mikhail Sergachev and he’s likely to be a game-time decision. [Update – he was on the ice with Sean Day at practice, but not one of the top three pairings. Chances are he’s not playing]. Haydn Fleury and the rest of the defensive squad have stepped in to help fill the hole. While there are still some issues to sort out, it is encouraging that they only allowed one goal in two of their last three games.

Meanwhile Coach Paul Maurice is hoping that the break can help the Panthers clear their head and get back on track. The offense has sputtered out a bit lately with just 11 goals over their last 6 games. Their 1.93 goals per game over that stretch is tied for most futile with the Sharks. All season long Matthew Tkachuk, who is coming off of back-to-back 100 point seasons, is struggling. He has just 5 goals on the season after scoring 82 in the prior two years.

It’s a bit odd that the first regular season meeting between these in-state rivals comes so late in the season, but that likely won’t keep it from being a spirted affair.

Stats Match-up

Lines

Tampa Bay Lightning Projected Lines

Forwards
Nick Paul – Brayden Point – Nikita Kucherov
Brandon Hagel – Anthony Cirelli – Steven Stamkos
Tanner Jeannot – Luke Glendening – Mikey Eyssimount

Austin Watson- Tyler Motte – Conor Sheary

Defenders
Victor Hedman – Nick Perbix
Haydn Fleury – Erik Cernak
Calvin de Haan – Darren Raddysh

Goalies
Andrei Vasilevskiy

Jonas Johansson

[Updated after Morning Skate. Lines per Chris Krenn]

Florida Panthers Projected Lines

Forwards
Evan Rodrigues – Aleksander Barkov – Sam Reinhart

Carter Verhaeghe – Sam Bennett – Matthew Tkachuk

Eetu Luostarinen – Anton Lundell – Nick Cousins

Will Lockwood – Kevin Stenlund – Ryan Lomberg

Defenders

Gustav Forsling – Aaron Ekblad

Niko Mikkola – Brandon Montour

Dmitry Kulikov – Oliver Ekman-Larsson

Goalies

Sergei Bobrovsky

Anthony Stolarz

Question of the Night

Did the holiday break sap the Lightning’s momentum?