Tampa Bay Lightning (41-21-4, 86 pts) at Vancouver Canucks (21-38-8, 50 pts)
Venue: Rogers Arena
Date: Thursday, March 19th
Time: 10:00 pm ET / 7:00 pm PT

TV: ESPN+ / Scripps Sports / Sportsnet
Radio: 
Tampa Bay Lightning – 102.5 FM The Bone
Vancouver Canucks – Sportsnet 650 AM

DraftKings Sportsbook Betting Lines:
Tampa Bay Lightning -1.5 ML -192
Vancouver Canucks +1.5 ML +160
O/U 5.5

Tampa Bay Lightning News and Notes:

The Tampa Bay Lightning are sitting in a very pretty spot, just four points out of first place in the Atlantic Division, just behind the Buffalo Sabres. However, the Lightning have been fairly streaky, going 4-8 since the Winter Olympic break. In such a tight division, every game counts, so grabbing a win in tonight’s contest vs the Vancouver Canucks is critical for Tampa Bay to stay above close rivals like the Montreal Canadiens, Boston Bruins, or Detroit Red Wings, who are all within four points of overtaking Tampa Bay.

Vancouver Canucks News and Notes

The biggest change inside the Vancouver Canucks locker room as of late has been team chemistry. After making several moves at the deadline, compiling a completely new lineup for the rebuild, morale has seemed a tad low for Vancouver, but that switch has flipped. The Vancouver Canucks have gone 3-2-1 in their last six games, and with such a 10 point gap between them and the second-to-last-place team, the Calgary Flames, The Canucks have room to breathe where they can improve their team’s morale and win some games, while also not giving up their top spot in the 2026 NHL Draft Lottery.

Tampa Bay Lightning Projected Lines:

Hagel-Cirelli-Kucherov
Goncalves-Point-Guentzel
Girgensons-Gourde-Holmberg
Perry-Paul-Bjorkstrand

Moser-Raddysh
McDonagh-D’Astous
Hedman-Cernak

Vasilevskiy
Johansson

Vancouver Canucks Projected Lines:

DeBrusk-E. Pettersson-O’Connor
Ohgren-Rossi-Boeser
Sasson-Blueger-Karlsson
Hoglander-Raty-Kane

E. N. Pettersson-Hronek
M. Pettersson-Willander
Buium-Mancini

Lankinen
Tolopilo

Players to Watch:

Tampa Bay Lightning:

The top line in Tampa Bay has truly hit their stride as the Lightning look to secure home-ice advantage in the first round of the NHL Playoffs. Nikita Kucherov with three goals and two assists in his last game against the Seattle Kraken, Brandon Hagel with a goal and three assists, and Anthony Cirelli with a goal and two assists, throttling the Kraken 6-2 on Tuesday, and they are always a threat to do it again.

Vancouver Canucks:

Marco Rossi has been putting this Vancouver Canucks team on his back in this positive stretch of games. Rossi has been killing it, putting up ten points in the last seven games and seven points in the last three games. He is coming off a three-point performance in his last game against the defending Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers, putting up a goal and two assists and leading the Canucks to a 5-2 victory in the process.

Injury Report:

Tampa Bay Lightning:

D Emil Lilleberg – Day to Day
D Declan Carlile – IR
C Dominic James – LTIR
C Maxwell Crozier – LTIR

Vancouver Canucks:

D Pierre-Olivier Joseph
C Filip Chytil – IR
D Derek Forbort – LTIR
G Thatcher Demko – IR

Next Game:

Tampa Bay Lightning: Saturday, March 21 at Edmonton Oilers – 10 pm ET
Vancouver Canucks: Saturday, March 21 vs. St. Louis Blues – 7 pm ET

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