Tampa Bay Lightning at Toronto Maple Leafs: GAME 70
Time: 7:30 pm Eastern Time
Location: Scotiabank Arena
Broadcast/Streaming: SUN, SNO, TVAS
Opponent SBNation Site: Pension Plan Puppets
Preview:
The Tampa Bay Lightning arrive in Toronto for their first of three remaining road trips and 13 games left in the season. They just wrapped up a 3-1-0 homestand with a 3-2 victory against Detroit; one that saw Nikita Kucherov set another record and Louis Domingue record another win.
The Maple Leafs have won three of their last four games despite missing two of their top six defensemen in Jake Gardiner and Travis Dermott. The defensive performances haven’t always been pretty, but their offense has been solid and they’ve gotten good goaltending from Frederik Andersen.
This will be the third meeting between the two teams (both previous games have been played in Tampa). The Bolts have split the season series with Toronto, but haven’t always played their best game against the Leafs this season. However, Toronto’s depleted blueline will provide the Lightning with the perfect opportunity to play their game and take advantage of defensive miscues.
Tampa’s blueline is also struggling with injuries, as they are missing both Anton Stralman and Dan Girardi. That has spelled the end of the defensive rotation for the moment, but with the Bolts 15 points up on the next team in the division, they should be able to weather the storm for the time being.
It should be a high-paced, fast-skating game, but whichever team can put forth the better defensive effort likely walk away with two points.
Tampa Bay Lightning
Forwards
Ondrej Palat – Steven Stamkos – J.T. Miller
Tyler Johnson – Brayden Point – Nikita Kucherov
Alex Killorn – Anthony Cirelli – Mathieu Joseph
Adam Erne – Cedric Paquette – Yanni Gourde
Scratched: Danick Martel, Ryan Callahan
Defense
Victor Hedman – Mikhail Sergachev
Ryan McDonagh – Erik Cernak
Braydon Coburn – Jan Rutta
Injured: Anton Stralman, Dan Girardi
Goalies
Andrei Vasilevskiy
Louis Domingue
Toronto Maple Leafs
Forwards
Zach Hyman – John Tavares – Mitch Marner
Andreas Johnsson – Auston Matthews – Kasperi Kapanen
Patrick Marleau – Nazem Kadri – William Nylander
Tyler Ennis – Frederik Gauthier – Connor Brown
Scratched: Nic Petan, Trevor Moore
Defense
Morgan Rielly – Ron Hainsey
Jake Muzzin – Nikita Zaitsev
Martin Marincin – Igor Ozhiganov
Scratched: Justin Holl
Injured: Jake Gardiner, Travis Dermott
Goalies
Frederik Andersen
Garret Sparks
