Game Thirty-six: Tampa Bay Lightning (20-13-2) at Los Angeles Kings (22-10-5)
Time: 9:00 PM EST
Location: Crypto.com Arena, Los Angeles
TV/Stream/Radio: FDSNSUN, FDSNW, ESPN+, 102.5 FM, Lightning App
Odds: Lightning +102
On Thursday, the Lightning faced one of the coldest teams in the NHL as the Sharks were stumbling around with an eight-game losing streak. Now, they have to face one of the hottest teams in the league as the Kings are 11-2-2 in their last 15 games and are rolling on an eight-game home winning streak. The Bolts lost to the Sharks, so maybe they will flip the script and beat Los Angeles. It could happen, right?
If they are to pull off the upset, they need to tighten things up a little. They didn’t play horribly against the Sharks, they were just a little…off. Passes were just out of reach and shots were just a little wide. Pucks just weren’t bouncing their way, but at the same time they also seemed a step behind the play. The Sharks were the first to rebounds, and the ones emerging away from scrums along the boards with the pucks.
There haven’t been many games like that this year, but they can’t afford a repeat performance tonight against a really good and consistent L.A. team. If the Lightning struggle with their execution, the Kings will light them up. The good news is that the Bolts have been pretty good at not letting streaks like this get too out of hand. They may have one or two bad games in a row, but that’s usually all it takes to get back on track.
They were also bound to run into a little offensive skid even as the league’s top-scoring team. It’s just a bit more noticible since it came against the Canadiens and Sharks. They’ve shown the ability to bounce back from these little hiccups during the season. The last time they were held to three goals over two games was in November when they lost 3-2 to St. Louis and then 2-1 to Philly back in early November. They then scored 17 goals in their next four games.
One thing they will have to rediscover is their power play. Outside of the 2-for-5 performance against New York, the Bolts are just 1-for-14 since December 19th. They haven’t been generating a ton of shots on the few opportunities that they’ve had. In four of their last six games they’ve had just one shot on goal with the man-advantage. That just isn’t good enough for a team with their talent. They also aren’t getting a lot of chances either.
Tampa Bay may get some looks with the extra skater as the Kings have been short-handed 113 times this season, which is among the most in the league. They have been able to fend most of them off as they are killing them at an 82% clip. It’ll help if the Lightning have Victor Hedman on the ice as he has 12 power-play points on the season. He left the game against San Jose after getting struck in the head with the puck in the third period. All indications are that he should be good to go.
There going to go up a team that has been able to roll three pretty good lines over the last month or so. Anze Kopitar doesn’t seem to age as the 37-year-old has 39 points (12 goals, 27 assists) in 37 games and is now up to 1,250 points in his career. On the second line Warren Foegele has 11 goals while, and on the third line Kevin Fiala has 14. So they are a threat to score with just about every line. Old friend Tanner Jeannot has found a groove with Foegele and Quinton Byfield on the second line, and while he isn’t filling the net with pucks, he is hitting everything in sight and retrieving pucks to keep the play going.
As a whole, the Kings like to generate their offense off of the rush. Only the Colorado Avalanche have created more shots off of the rush than L.A., so the Lightning are going to have to be cognizant of that fact. The defense can’t get too greedy in the offensive zone, and the forwards have to make sure they’re making clean passes across the ice.
Defensively, Los Angeles just doesn’t allow much. They are one of the top teams in regards to scoring chances against, and high-danger chances against. It’s even more impressive when you consider they’ve done it all without Drew Doughty, who broke his ankle in a preseason game.
Good defenses can be broken down by precise play and the Lightning have the ability to do that. Perhaps this is the exact type of team they need to play after scuffling along a little. It’s gut-check time for the Bolts, and even though there are a lot of games to be played until they get there, it’ll be a good indicator as to what type of playoff team Tampa Bay could be in a few months.
Patience will be a virtue tonight. When the Lightning play with control and don’t try to force things, they can hang with any team in the league. Their troubles usually start when they try passing the puck into the back of the net instead of taking the shot when it presents itself. Quick, accurate passing, and execution of their game plan will be keys to a win tonight.
Potential Line-Ups
Tampa Bay Lightning
Forwards:
Jake Guentzel – Brayden Point – Nikita Kucherov
Brandon Hagel – Anthony Cirelli – Conor Geekie
Gage Goncalves – Nick Paul – Mitchell Chaffee
Zemgus Girgensons – Luke Glendening – Mikey Eyssimont
Defense:
Victor Hedman (?) – Darren Raddysh
Ryan McDonagh – Erik Cernak
Emil Lilleberg – Nick Perbix
Goaltenders:
Andrei Vasilevskiy
Jonas Johansson
Los Angeles Kings
Forwards:
Alex Turcotte – Anze Kopitar – Adrian Kempe
Warren Foegele – Quinton Byfield – Tanner Jeannot
Kevin Fiala – Phillip Danault – Alex Laferriere
Andre Lee – Samuel Helenius – Kyle Burroughs
Defense:
Mikey Anderson – Vladislav Garikov
Joel Edmundson – Brandt Clarke
Jacob Moverare – Jordan Spence
Goaltenders:
Darcy Kuemper
David Rittich
