Lightning at Bruins Preview and Game Thread: One more on the road

Game Sixty-six: Tampa Bay Lightning (37-23-5) at Boston Bruins (30-29-8)

Time: 7:00 PM EST

Location: TD Garden, Boston

TV/Stream/Radio: FDSNSUN, NESN, ESPN+, 102.5 FM, Lightning App

Odds: Lightning -162

Know the Opponents: Stanley Cup of Chowder

Story Lines and Notes

The Boston Bruins run as post-deadline world beaters came to a crashing end against the red-hot Ottawa Senators. After selling off a portion of their veterans, they took down the Lightning (4-0) and the Panthers (3-2) before the loss on Thursday to the Senators (6-3). The Lightning get a chance at extracting some revenge as they head up to TD Garden today.

For Tampa Bay, it’s a chance to turn down a disappointing road trip and keep the pressure on Florida and Toronto. With a win and a Maple Leafs loss they can move even in points with Toronto at 81. A victory will also help them keep their gap with the Senators, who have moved within four points thanks to a five-game winning streak.

After their last outing, a 4-3 shootout loss to the Flyers, coach and players were left bemoaning the lack of shots they directed at the Philadelphia net. They mustered just 14 shots on net at 5v5 against a team that has struggled on defense of late. The Lightning aren’t a high-volume shot team like Carolina, but they tend to get their fair share throughout the night.

Even more troubling was their inability to get to the dangerous areas in front of the net. Natural Stat Trick credited them with just two high-danger chances at 5v5, their lowest total of the season. It’s easy to say that not having Nikita Kucherov in the line-up was the reason for that, but against a Flyers team that had been giving up over 9.5 per game over their last ten games, it’s just not good enough.

In their last game, and against the Bruins, the Lightning were outworked in front of the net and along the boards. Their coaching staff likes to talk about playing “prison rules” in front of the net, and doing whatever it takes to win the puck. Tonight’s game doesn’t have to pretty, but it does need to be intense and physical. Not necessarily dropping the gloves and fighting (but who knows, maybe Emil Lilleberg has to answer for Mark Kastelic attacking him one more time), but by winning the battles along the boards and fighting through the traffic in front of the net.

Prior to their big winning streak in February, the Lightning scraped a point out of an overtime loss to the Islanders. Perhaps the point against the Flyers will spark another nice run that shores up their post-season spot.

As of this morning there was no update on the status of Nikita Kucherov. The lines below are based on how they started the last game. Expect Andrei Vasilevskiy to be back in net and determined to turn his mini-slump around.

Stats

Potential Lines

Tampa Bay Lightning

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Boston Bruins

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