Game Thirty-five: Tampa Bay Lightning (20-12-2) at San Jose Sharks (11-23-6)
Time: 10:30 PM EST
Location: SAP Center at San Jose, San Jose, California
TV/Stream/Radio: FDSNSUN, NBCSCA, ESPN+, 102.5 FM, Lightning App
Odds: Lightning -270
The Opponents: Fear The Fin
A very busy January for the Tampa Bay Lightning kicks off in San Jose tonight as the Sharks host the Bolts for some late night hockey action. The Lightning are in California for the first three of sixteen games that they play in the first month of 2025. It’ll be a big month for them as they have a chance to even up the games played with their divisional rivals.
On paper, tonight should be one of their easier games as San Jose is stuck in an eight-game losing streak (they do have a shootout and overtime loss mixed in) while allowing copious amounts of goals along the way. It’s been a tough season for young stars Will Smith and Macklin Celebrini as it’s the second losing streak of at least eight games they’ve had to endure so far this hockey year.
The losing streak does coincide with the beginning of their trade season as they shipped goaltender MacKenzie Blackwood to Colorado for Alexander Georgiev, Nikolai Kovalenko, and a couple of draft picks. Chances are Mike Grier isn’t done dealing players as the Sharks look to surround their young players with even more talent. Rebuilds are tough.
Since the deal, the Sharks are 1-8-1 and are allowing 3.80 goals against per game and they’re allowing 32.1 shots per night. Teams are generating 34.23 scoring chances a night with 12.24 of them considered high-danger. Welcome to San Jose, Mr. Georgiev.
Offensively, Celebrini is having a strong rookie year as the first overall pick from last year’s draft has 27 points (12 goals, 15 assists) in 28 games. Veteran Mikhael Granlund, who is a pending free agent, is leading the team with 34 points (11 goals, 23 assists) and could be an intriguing name on the trading block if San Jose isn’t able to come to terms on a extension with him. Unfortunately for the Sharks, William Eklund, who has 27 points this season, won’t be in the line-up as he was placed on injured reserve a couple of days ago.
As for the Lightning. They are hoping to ice a roster that includes all of their regular forwards. Jake Guentzel, who missed the Montreal game, took regular shifts at practice earlier in the week and is likely to suit up for the game. Without him out of the line-up, the Lightning looked a little discombobulated against the Canadiens with Cameron Atkinson getting a little time on the top line before Nick Paul jumped up to play with Brayden Point and Nikita Kucherov.
Based on yesterday’s practice it looked like everyone was back in the regular spots with Atkinson rotating out with Gage Goncalves on the third line. As of publication there hasn’t been any roster movement announced by the team, so hopefully Guentzel, who has 20 goals on the season, is good to go.
San Jose may be young and struggling, but they are also young and skillful. The Bolts will have to be cognizant of that, and make sure they stick to their system. Things got a little loose over their last few games in December and they saw the scoring chances against creep up. The good news is that they had a couple of practices to reset, something that has helped them throughout the season so far. Practice time is going to be at a premium this month, so it’s imperative that they get off to a strong start and pick up two points tonight.
Potential Lines
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
San Jose Sharks
Forwards:
Fabian Zetterlund – Macklin Celebrini – Will Smith
Klim Kostin – Mikael Grandlund – Luke Kunin
Nikolai Kovalenko – Alex Wennberg – Tyler Toffoli
Barclay Goodrow – Nico Sturm – Ty Dellandrea
Defense:
Henry Thrun – Cody Ceci
Mario Ferraro – Timothy Liljegren
Shakir Mukhamadullin – Jan Rutta
Goaltenders:
Alexandar Georgiev
Yaroslav Askarov
