Tampa Bay Lightning at Seattle Kraken Preview and Game Day Thread
The Bolts still haven’t lost to the Kraken in their short history.
Tampa Bay Lightning at Seattle Kraken: GAME #42
Time: 4:00 pm Eastern Time
Location: Climate Pledge Arena
Broadcast/Streaming: BSSUN, ROOT-NW, ESPN+, HULU
Opponent Site: Davy Jones Locker Room
Preview:
After beating the St. Louis Blues on Saturday night, the Tampa Bay Lightning are already past halfway through the season. At this point of the season, the Lightning are still third in the Atlantic Division with a 11-point lead over the Buffalo Sabres. On the other hand, the Bolts managed to close the gap behind the Toronto Maple Leafs to four points with three games in hand due to the Leafs losing their two previous games.
The main concern ahead of the game against Seattle is availability of Nick Perbix, in St. Louis and missed the whole third period. According to Jon Cooper it’s not going to be a long-term thing and him sitting out at the end of the game was more of a precaution. Perbix, however, missed yesterday’s practice and will possibly miss tonight’s game also out of precaution. In his absence Cal Foote, who hasn’t played since last week, drew into his spot. Haydn Fleury, who played for Seattle during previous season, was also mixing in during the practice, mostly skating with Bogosian and Foote.
a look at the #Bolts lines and D pairings:
— Gabby Shirley (@Gabby_Shirley_) January 15, 2023
Hagel - Point - Kucherov
Cirelli - Stamkos - Killorn
Colton - Paul - Maroon
Namestnikov - Bellemare - Perry
Hedman - Bogosian
Cole - Cernak
Sergachev - Foote
Fleury is mixing in mainly skating with Bogosian and Foote
Meanwhile Steven Stamkos is still sitting at 499 career goals, waiting on another milestone in his NHL career. A Lightning captain has been struggling with putting the puck into the net over the last month, scoring just twice during that time. That cannot be said about Brayden Point, who’s leading the Bolts with 10 goals in 13 games during the same span.
About a month ago, the Lightning defeated the Kraken 6-2 at the Amalie Arena. The Lightning dominated them from the beginning, not leaving their opponent any chance to get back into the game. Since that game, however, Seattle has really taken off. They’ve won 10 out of 14 games, including their last eight games — the hottest active winning streak in the league right now. Out of those eight victories seven were earned on the road, making Seattle the first team in the NHL to sweep a road trip of at least seven games. In their previous game, the Kraken defeated the Chicago Blackhawks 8-5, scoring their first six goals on their first seven shots on goal during the first period.
That said, the Kraken, surprisingly, haven’t been such a dominant team at home. At Climate Pledge Arena they’re currently 10-8-2 with a .550 point percentage, which is the 16th result in the league. The Kraken also don’t have a great record against the Lightning, losing each of their three games so far.
The weakest side of Seattle is their penalty kill. They’re second worst team in the NHL in shorthanded situations with 68.7 PK%, only better than the Vancouver Canucks, who has been the worst team in the league in this category. The Lightning, whose power play is second-best in the league, will definitely explore that opportunity.
Speaking of personalities, Matthew Beniers is tied for the team lead in points with Andre Burakovsky. In his rookie season Beniers has 36 (17+19) points in 42 games and he’s one of the main candidates for the Calder Trophy at the end of this season. The goaltending haven’t been the strongest side of Seattle as both Martin Jones and Philipp Grubauer are currently below .900 save percentage this season, although Jones has two shutouts in his last three starts.
After tonight’s game, the Bolts are heading to Canada with two of their next games against the Vancouver Canucks and the Edmonton Oilers being back-to-back.
Comparison chart:
Tampa Bay Lightning at Seattle Kraken
| Game # 42 | Tampa Bay Lightning | Seattle Kraken |
|---|---|---|
| Overall Record | 27-13-1 | 26-12-4 |
| Home Record | 17-4-1 | 10-8-2 |
| Road Record | 10-9-0 | 16-4-2 |
| Goals For | 147 | 158 |
| Goals Against | 120 | 129 |
| xGF | 142.1 | 124.49 |
| xGA | 128.47 | 121.71 |
| PP% | 29.2% | 21.1% |
| PK% | 81.3% | 68.7% |
Tampa Bay Lightning Potential Lines
Forward Lines
Brandon Hagel - Brayden Point - Nikita Kucherov
Anthony Cirelli - Steven Stamkos - Alex Killorn
Ross Colton - Nick Paul - Patrick Maroon
Vlad Namestnikov - Pierre-Edouard Bellemare - Corey Perry
Defense Pairings
Victor Hedman - Zach Bogosian
Ian Cole - Erik Cernak
Mikhail Sergachev - Nick Perbix
Goaltenders
Andrei Vasilevskiy
Brian Elliott
Seattle Kraken Potential Lines
Forward Lines
Andre Burakovsky - Matthew Beniers - Jordan Eberle
Ryan Donato - Alexander Wennberg - Jared McCann
Eeli Tolvanen - Yanni Gourde - Oliver Bjorkstrand
Brandon Tanev - Morgan Geekie - Daniel Sprong
Defense Pairings
Adam Larsson - Vince Dunn
Jamie Oleksiak - Justin Schultz
Carson Soucy - William Borgen
Goaltenders
Martin Jones
Philipp Grubauer
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