Game Eleven: Tampa Bay Lightning (7-3) at Minnesota Wild (6-1-2)
Time: 8:00 PM EST
Location: Xcel Energy Arena
TV/Stream/Radio: FDSNSUN, FDSNNO, FDSNWI, ESPN+, 102.5 FM
Odds: Lightning -108
The nice thing about playing a team like the Minnesota Wild a week apart is that the Lightning should know what they need to do to win. When they last met, the Lightning had the lead late into the second period, but in a span of about four minutes of game action, saw the Wild tie the game, and then jump ahead on a power play goal early in the third period.
From that point on, the Wild locked things down and forced the Lightning to play “perimeter hockey” in the words of Coach Cooper. He felt that his players “were not willing to pay the price” when things got a little tough in the third period. The Lightning had 17 shot attempts over the final 20 minutes, but 10 of them were blocked and two went wide.
More importantly, they were credited with zero high-danger chances. The Wild kept them on the edges and bottled them up in the neutral zone. The Bolts will have to find a way to get inside against a Wild defense that will be a little stronger as Jared Spurgeon will be back on the top pairing after missing the first match-up.
The Lightning will possibly be without Erik Cernak, who left the game against the Avalanche in the second period after Matt Stienburg bounced his head off of the glass. If he isn’t able to go, Nick Perbix and Darren Raddysh will both draw into the line-up. At this point, the Lightning haven’t publicly made any roster moves, so there is a chance Cernak might be able to play. He’s likely to be a game-time decision.
With or without Cernak, they will need to do a better job of getting their shots through and establishing a presence in front of the Minnesota net. It’ll help if they stay out of the penalty box. While they did pull off a short-handed goal in their last meeting, taking four penalties blunted their ability to build on the lead when they had it.
It’s not going to be an easy game tonight, but the Lightning are going to need to find ways to win a game like this if they want to make a legitimate Stanley Cup run this season.
Tampa Bay Lightning Potential Lines
Forwards
Jake Guentzel – Brayden Point – Nikita Kucherov
Brandon Hagel – Anthony Cirelli – Conor Geekie
Mikey Eyssimont – Nick Paul – Mitchell Chaffee
Zemgus Girgensons – Luke Glendening – Cam Atkinson
Defense:
Victor Hedman – JJ Moser
Ryan McDonagh – Erik Cernak/Nick Perbix
Emil Lilleberg – Darren Raddysh
Goaltender:
Andrei Vasilevskiy
Minnesota Wild Potential Lines
Forwards:
Kirill Kaprizov – Marco Rossi – Mats Zuccarello
Marcus Johansson – Joel Erikkson Ek – Matt Boldy
Marcus Foligno – Frederick Gaudreau – Yakov Trenin
Jakub Lauko – Marat Khusnutdinov – Ryan Hartman (?)
Defense:
Jonas Brodin – Jared Spurgeon
Jacob Middleton – Brock Faber
Jon Merrill – Zach Bogosian
Goaltender:
Filip Gustavsson
