Game 20: Washington Capitals (14-6-1) at Tampa Bay Lightning (11-7-2)
Time: 7:30 PM EST
Location: Amalie Arena
TV/Stream/Radio: TNT/MAX/102.5 FM
Odds: Lightning -148
Congratulations everyone, you’ve made it through one of the toughest short working weeks of the year. It’s after noon on the Wednesday before American Thanksgiving, so any and all important work can be pushed to next Monday. Unfortunately for the Lightning and the Capitals, they have one more piece of business to attend to before they can start thinking about turkey and Detroit Lions football.
The Caps are back in town for their second visit in the last month and are hoping to be a little more productive in the goal-scoring department after the Lightning shut them out on October 26th. Goals from Mitchell Chaffee, Conor Geekie, and Brayden Point provided the offense and Andrei Vasilevskiy nabbed his 35th career shutout with 31 saves. Things are a little different for this match-up as Alex Ovechkin is out with a fractured fibula and Mitchell Chaffee is likely to be a game-time decision after leaving the Bolts 8-2 win over the Colorado Avalanche early.
The Bolts are looking to build on that offensive explosion, which followed a run of questionable play, with another strong performance against a Caps team that defeated the Florida Panthers their last time out. By the way, is everything okay down there it Sunrise? The Cats have lost their last four games in a row. That’s allowed the Lightning to narrow the game to just one point with two games in hand.
Things are getting tight in the Atlantic race as Tampa Bay sits in third with 24 points, behind the Maple Leafs (28 points) and the Panthers (25 points), but the Sabres and Bruins (23 points) are right behind the Lightning. Our favorite skaters do have at least one game in hand on everyone clumped up, but it looks like it will be a dogfight all season long to make the playoffs.
It will be a busy end to the holiday week for the Bolts as they have Thursday off, and then a back-to-back with Nashville and Toronto before a nice four-day break. So far through November, their record has been spotty at 4-4-2 as they’ve gone a Jekyll and Hyde-esque run. They blow a 3-1 lead to Columbus one night, and then rock the Avalanche to their core a few nights later. They can’t score against Philadelphia, and then drop four on the Jets and four on the Devils in their next two games. They are nothing if not unpredictable this season, that’s for sure.
Washington comes in without their talisman as Ovechkin continues rehabbing from the broken leg he suffered against Utah on November 18th. It puts a damper on his quest to top Wayne Gretzky’s once unbreakable goals record and leaves the Caps without one of their top scoring threats. Since the injury, they’ve gone 1-2, dropping home games to Colorado (one goal scored) and New Jersey (two goals scored) before getting back into the win column with 4-1 victory over the Panthers.
Tom Wilson has ascended to the top line in Ovechkin’s spot, and the league’s lightning rod is having a decent season with 15 points (6 goals, 9 assists), but that removes some of the balance that has powered their success so far. Connor McMichael is still rolling on and the newly re-acquired Lars Eller has 3 points (2 goals, 1 assist) in 6 games since his trade from Pittsburgh. Logan Thompson appears to have won the number-one starter role and has posted a 2.44 GAA with a .917 SV%.
As for the Lightning, it looks like they are still without the services of Nick Paul, who did not practice on Tuesday. Mitchell Chaffee was also absent from the skate as Coach Jon Cooper, coaching in his 900th regular season game, trotted out the usual “day-to-day” moniker to describe his status.
If he can’t go, then it’s likely to be another 11/7 line-up for the Bolts with Darren Raddysh and Nick Perbix both drawing in. As of publication, no one has been called up from Syracuse to take the spot. No matter how the roster looks tonight, the mission will be the same. Limit mistakes, work quickly and cleanly, and focus on getting the puck over the goal line instead of making a highlight-worthy play.
Sit back, relax, dream of tomorrow’s turkey dinner, and enjoy a little Lightning hockey.
Potential Lines
Tampa Bay Lightning
Forwards:
Jake Guentzel – Brayden Point – Nikita Kucherov
Brandon Hagel – Anthony Cirelli – ?
Gage Goncavles – Morgan Geekie – Cameron Atkinson
Zemgus Girgensons – Luke Glendening – Mikey Eyssimont
Defense:
Victor Hedman/ JJ Moser
Ryan McDonagh – Erik Cernak
Emil Lilleberg – Nick Perbix – Darren Raddysh
Goaltender:
Andrei Vasilevskiy
Washington Capitals
Forwards:
Aliaksei Protas – Dylan Strome – Tom Wilson
Connor McMichael – Pierre-Luc Dubois – Taylor Raddysh
Hendrix LaPierre – Lars Eller – Andrew Mangiapane
Brandon Duhaime – Nic Dowd – Ivan Miroshnicehenko
Defense
Jakob Chychrun – John Carlson
Rasmus Sandin – Matt Roy
Martin Fehervary – Trevor van Riemsdyk
Goaltender
Logan Thompson
Charlie Lindgren
