Tampa Bay Lightning at Pittsburgh Penguins: Game 19
Time: 7:00 pm Eastern Time
Location: PPG Paints Arena
Broadcast/Streaming: SunS, ATTP
Opponent SBNation Site: Pensburgh
Preview:
The Lightning go to Pittsburgh tonight to play the Penguins. The Bolts will be hoping for a different outcome than Tuesday night’s game when they thoroughly outplayed the Sabres but still lost thanks to an outstanding game in net from Carter Hutton and a few untimely shots off the post.
For the first time this season, the Lightning have lost back to back games in regulation. It started with a disappointing third period collapse against the Senators and continued with the loss to the Sabres. Looking just at 5v5 numbers, the Lightning were probably the better team in both games but goaltending determined the outcomes. Allowing four goals after going up 4-2 cost them against Ottawa and Hutton stole the show in Buffalo.
The Pens enter the game with two big storylines. The first is Sidney Crosby. He missed practice yesterday with an upper-body injury. The team didn’t provide any additional information. The team is already missing Derrick Brassard and has struggled to get much contribution from their depth players. If Crosby misses the game, that will put even more pressure on Evgeni Malkin to carry the load.
That lack of secondary production is the reason for the second storyline. Yesterday, General Manager Jim Rutherford signed a three-year extension and then immediately made a move to shake up the roster. He sent 30 year-old speedster Carl Hagelin to Los Angeles in exchange for 26 year-old Tanner Pearson. Pearson could make his debut for the Pens tonight.
The Lightning have some injury issues of their own with the news that Andrei Vasilevskiy will miss time with a fractured foot and Ondrej Palat still out for several more weeks. Adam Erne returned last game in Buffalo and claimed his spot on the fourth line. Anton Stralman missed the game but based on yesterday’s practice, might be back tonight. If that’s the case, look for Erik Cernak to head back to Syracuse so that he can be available to the Crunch this weekend.
Comparison chart:
The Pens have been a surprisingly average team so far this season. They’ve been better over the last ten games but even in that stretch, their defensive metrics have been poor. They have the offense to outscore those problems but that’s not the profile the coaches will want to see long term.
The Lightning continue to be one of the better teams in the league in terms of 5v5 play. The one area of weakness is the goaltending. Through 18 games, the team is creeping toward the “bad” territory on the chart. The team has done an excellent job of limiting dangerous chances against but so far, the netminders haven’t been able to take full advantage of that.
On special teams, the Lightning are coming back to the pack. The penalty kill that started out so dominant has come back toward league average over the last ten games. And the goaltending on the penalty kill has exacerbated that problem. The power play has also started to slide. The team is outshooting some of their problems but even this much shooting talent won’t overcome the low quality shot generation over the last ten games.
Tonight is a matchup between two teams that people generally think of as being the best in the NHL. But so far this season, only the Lightning have lived up to that reputation. Even so, the Penguins are always dangerous. They have too much talent to continue to play the way they have to start the season.
Tampa Bay Lightning
Forward Lines
J.T. Miller – Steven Stamkos – Nikita Kucherov
Yanni Gourde – Brayden Point – Tyler Johnson
Alex Killorn – Anthony Cirelli – Mathieu Joseph
Adam Erne – Cedric Paquette – Ryan Callahan
Danick Martel – Ondrej Palat (injured)
Defense Pairings
Victor Hedman – Dan Girardi
Ryan McDonagh – Anton Stralman
Braydon Coburn – Mikhail Sergachev
Slater Koekkoek – Erik Cernak
Goaltenders
Louis Domingue
Andrei Vasilevskiy (injured)
Opponent lines
Forward Lines
Dominik Simon – Sidney Crosby – Bryan Rust
Tanner Pearson – Evgeni Malkin – Patric Hornqvist
Jake Guentzel – Riley Sheahan – Phil Kessel
Garrett Wilson – Matt Cullen – Daniel Sprong
Defense Pairings
Jack Johnson – Kris Letang
Brian Dumoulin – Chad Ruhwedel
Olli Maata – Jamie Oleksiak
Goalies
Matt Murray
Casey DeSmith
