Game Forty-Seven: Tampa Bay Lightning (29-13-4) at Dallas Stars (27-12-9)

Time: 2:00 PM EST

Location: American Airlines Arena, Home of the Greatest TV Intro Ever?

TV/Stream/Radio: The Spot, Victory+, NHL Network, 102.5 FM, Lightning App

Odds: Lightning -110

Know the Opponents: Defending Big D

The goals have been a little hard to come by for the Tampa Bay Lightning over their last two outings. Last Tuesday they mustered one goal in regulation before defeating the Pittsburgh Penguins 2-1 in a shootout. Then, on Friday, they scored twice (both on the power play) before conceding the Bettman Point to the St. Louis Blues in a 3-2 loss.

It was a rough turn of events for a team that had scored 4+ goals in their other five outings in January. Now, there is a glaringly obvious reason why the Lightning might be sputtering a bit. Their perpetual motion machine that is Brayden Point has been sidelined with a knee injury and that has thrown their lines into a bit of blender.

That being said, the good news is that the Lightning are still generating scoring chances at 5v5. Against Pittsburgh they won the scoring chance battle 23-16, a number that they matched against St. Louis when they outchanced them 26-15. After a month of getting all of the bounces, thing have dried up a bit over the last two. They just have to keep grinding away and creating the chances. The goals will start flowing again.

On the other side of the ice, the Dallas Stars are having a similar power outage. They’ve scored just two goals total in their last two outings and are scuffling along with a 2-4-2 record this month. Despite the recent skid, they are still second in the Western Conference behind the Colorado Avalanche.

Like the Lightning, a solid defense for most of the season has helped them to the top of the conference. They are currently sitting fifth in the league with a 2.12 GA/60 at 5v5, one spot behind the Lightning. So, there’s a good chance that this could be another game where the goal judges might have an easy night.

Dallas is another team that isn’t operating at 100% as forward Tyler Seguin and defenseman Lian Bischel are on injured reserve. Miro Heiskanen missed Thursday’s game, but is expected to be back against the Lightning (yay!).

Tonight’s game wraps up a five-game road trip for the Lightning (although they did have a brief stop at home after the Pittsburgh game). They’ve picked up 7 out of 8 points so far, which makes it a successful trip by normal standards. They need to, in Coach Cooper’s words, be a little greedy and pick up two more points in order to keep pace in the Atlantic Division.

There are no nights off in the NHL.

Potential Lines

Tampa Bay Lightning

Forwards:

Brandon HagelAnthony CirelliNikita KucherovGage GoncalvesNick PaulJake GuentzelZemgus GirgensonsYanni GourdePontus HolmbergDominic JamesJack FinleyOliver Bjorkstrand

Defense:

J.J. MoserDarren RaddyshCharle-Edouard D’AstousErik CernakVictor HedmanMax Crozier

Goaltenders:

Andrei VasilevskiyBrandon Halverson

Dallas Stars

Forwards:

Jason RobertsonRoope HintzMatt DucheneWyatt JohnstonSam SteelMikko RantanenJustin HryckowianMavrik BourqueOskar BackAdam ErneRadek FaksaJamie Benn

Defense:

Esa LindellMiro HeiskanenThomas HarleyAlex PetrovicKyle CapobiancoNils Lundkvist

Goaltenders:

Jake OettingerCasey DeSmith