Tampa Bay Lightning at Vegas Golden Knights: GAME 61
Time: 10:00 pm Eastern Time
Location: T-Mobile Arena
Broadcast/Streaming: SN, ATTSN-RM, SUN
Opponent SBNation Site: Knights On Ice
Preview:
The Tampa Bay Lightning are 19-2-1 in 2020, which is laughably ridiculous. They set a new franchise record on Monday night against the Colorado Avalanche with their 11th straight win. Although the Bolts struggled to fend off the Avalanche attack at times (especially in the third period), they emerged victorious thanks to Nikita Kucherov’s breakaway overtime winner.
Tonight, Blake Coleman will make his season debut with the Bolts after being acquired from the New Jersey Devils over the weekend. According to line rushes yesterday in practice, it looks like he will start on Tampa Bay’s third line with Tyler Johnson and Yanni Gourde. We’ve heard a lot of things about how he’s great defensively, so it will be interesting to see what kind of impact he can have with the Bolts tonight.
Meanwhile, Vegas also last played on Monday, a 3-2 win over the Washington Capitals. Tonight is their fourth of a five game home stand, and they are currently undefeated since it began. The Golden Knights sit second in the very tight Pacific Division, just one point back of first, so not only are they also on a win streak, but they will be hungry for a win tonight. The Golden Knights also have a new acquisition making his Vegas debut tonight — Alec Martinez was acquired from the Los Angeles Kings and will likely slot in on the third pair for Vegas.
Brayden Point wasn’t at yesterday’s practice because of a ‘rest day’, but he should play tonight. Braydon Coburn missed Monday’s game against Colorado with an injury, but Jon Cooper was optimistic that the veteran defenseman would be able to return tonight. If Coburn is unable to go, Cameron Gaunce will draw in again, like he did on Monday. Curtis McElhinney got the surprise start against Colorado, but we should see Andrei Vasilevskiy back between the pipes tonight.
The Bolts won the first meeting of the season a little over two weeks ago, so they will go for the season sweep over Vegas and their 12th straight win tonight. Get your coffee ready, Bolts fans. It may be a late start for those of us on the east coast, but it should be another great game.
Tampa Bay Lightning
Forwards
Steven Stamkos – Brayden Point – Nikita Kucherov
Ondrej Palat – Anthony Cirelli – Alex Killorn
Blake Coleman – Tyler Johnson – Yanni Gourde
Patrick Maroon – Cedric Paquette – Carter Verhaeghe
Mitchell Stephens
Defense Pairs
Victor Hedman – Erik Cernak
Mikhail Sergachev – Kevin Shattenkirk
Braydon Coburn – Luke Schenn
Cameron Gaunce
Injured: Ryan McDonagh, Jan Rutta
Goalies
Andrei Vasilevskiy
Curtis McElhinney
Vegas Golden Knights
Forwards
Jonathan Marchessault – Paul Stastny – Reilly Smith
Max Pacioretty – William Karlsson – Mark Stone
Chandler Stephenson – Cody Eakin – Cody Glass
Will Carrier – Tomas Nosek – Ryan Reaves
Injured: Alex Tuch
Defense Pairs
Brayden McNabb – Nate Schmidt
Nick Holden – Shea Theodore
Jon Merrill – Alec Martinez
Zach Whitecloud
Injured: Deryk Engelland
Goalies
Marc-Andre Fleury
Malcolm Subban
