Utah Hockey Club at Lightning Preview and Game Thread:

Game Seventy-two: Utah Hockey Club (32-28-11) at Tampa Bay Lightning (41-25-5)

Time: 7:00 PM EST

Location: Amalie Arena, Tam-a

TV/Stream/Radio: FDSNSUN, Utah16, ESPN+, 102.5 FM, Lightning App

Odds: Lightning -192

Know the Opponents: Utah NHL Site

Story Lines and Notes

It’s going to be a night filled with celebration as Ryan McDonagh is scheduled to appear in his 1,000th regular season game while Mikhail Sergachev returns to the building where he celebrated a couple of Stanley Cup wins (yup, there will be a tribute, and it will probably be emotional). More importantly, though, there will be a hockey game with another two points up for grabs.

The teams on both sides may need those points for different reasons, but they still need the points. With two more points the Lightning can keep pace (or move closer) to the two teams sitting on top of the division right now. The Leafs are in action against San Jose while Florida is off until Friday. Every point counts for the race to the top of the division.

On the other side of the ice, Utah is caught in a mass of teams in the Western Conference fighting for a wildcard spot. They’re at 75 points, 8 shy of St. Louis, who is currently in the second wildcard spot. UHC does have the advantage of having two games in hand on the Blues, but they also have to jump over Calgary and Vancouver, so time, and the pool of available points, is running low.

The last time these two teams met, the Lightning were coming off a solid victory, much like they are tonight. After trouncing Pittsburgh, the Bolts are hoping to make it two wins in a row (and three on home ice). The game plan against Utah should be similar to what they deployed against the Penguins, move fast on the ice, capitalize on their chances, and play solid defense in their zone.

Powering the Lightning the last time out was their top line of Brayden Point, Jake Guentzel, and Nikita Kucherov. It’s probably time everyone accepts the fact that having that trio play together is best for the team right now. In their last outing the Bolts generated a 21-10 shot attempt advantage and a 13-5 advantage in scoring chances while scoring twice.

On the season, they’ve posted a 3.83 GF/60 against a 2.96 xGF/60. They are shooting at an 11.92% success rate, which makes sense with Kucherov’s shooting skills and the fact that Point basically has a foot in the crease every time he shoots the puck. The Lightning tried to spread things out a little as they acclimated the new players into the line-up, but it seems their best option for offense is to go back to what worked for most of the season.

It’s not like the Nick Paul/Brandon Hagel/Anthony Cirelli trio has struggled. They’re at a 2.84 GF/60 while posting a 60.03 xGF%. Keeping Oliver Bjorkstrand on the third line (for now) takes a little pressure off of him until he gets his offense going. Gage Goncalves is a good linemate for him as the rookie has a knack for setting up his buddies on the ice.

Pittsburgh looked like a broken team on Tuesday, so Utah will be a slightly better test for the Bolts as they polish off the Western Conference portion of their schedule. The west has been kind to the Lightning as they’ve posted a 19-12-0 record against them this year, but after tonight, it’s all Eastern Conference the rest of the way.

Hopefully, it’ll be a fun night as the Lightning celebrate Sergachev’s return and McDonagh skates in his milestone game. Picking up two points at the end of the night will keep the good times rolling.

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Utah Hockey Club

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