Game Fifty-Seven: Tampa Bay Lightning (38-14-4) at Carolina Hurricanes (36-15-6)

Time: 7:00 PM EST

Location: Lenovo Center, 19 minutes from where Nuke Laloosh pitched to Crash Davis

TV/Stream/Radio: The Spot, FDSNSO, ESPN+, 102.5 FM, Lightning App

Odds: Lightning +130

Know the Opponents: Canes Country

The Tampa Bay Lightning did what they had to do against the Toronto Maple Leafs and picked up a 4-2 victory on Wednesday night. Now, it’s on to Carolina to meet a well-rested and very talented Hurricanes team. With Anthony Cirelli likely to miss his second straight game, expect the Bolts to roll with an 11/7 line-up once again with the only line-up change coming in net as Jonas Johansson will likely make his first start since January 24.

It’ll be the second tough start in a row for JoJo, who was in net for the second half of the Lightning’s back-to-back in Chicago and Columbus, but expect him to give them a fighting chance to pick up another two points. He’s 10-7-1 this season, and five of those losses have been by less than two goals. So, he’s doing what coaches want out of their back-ups – keeping the team in games.

He should expect a lot of pucks to come his way throughout the night as once again Carolina is leading the league in shot attempts (3,215) while ranking second in shots on goal (1,419). Despite the volume, they’ve lacked a little in their finishing as they have averaged 2.71 GF/60 at 5v5 against a 3.13 xGF/60. Their offense-is-the-best-defense strategy has helped them limit the chances against, but their goaltending has been decidedly average this year.

As for the Lightning, no one was happier to see Brayden Point on the ice than Gage Goncalves. After starting on a line with Dominic James and Brandon Hagel, Proper-Age Gage was reunited with Point and Nikita Kucherov and the trio was promptly on the ice for three goals, including a dazzling partial breakaway by Goncalves.

The three-point night for him eclipsed the total amount of points he put up while Point was out of the line-up. It’s not like he was a passenger on the line either as he had a direct hand in all three goals. On the first one, scored by Point, Goncalves was in front of the net and set a nice pick on the defenseman, which gave Point the shortside of the net to shoot from. He then scored the second one on a nifty stickhandling play to beat Anthony Stolarz. Finally, he chipped a tough pass over from the slot to set up Kucherov on a one-timer.

Over all, the line generated a 10-5 edge in shot attempts, a 5-3 edge in scoring chances, and a 4-2 edge in high-danger chances in 7:37 of ice time together. Those numbers are pretty similar to what they were doing prior to Point’s injury. If they can continue to click, that frees the Lightning coaching staff to put Jake Guentzel on a line with Brandon Hagel and Cirelli (when he’s healthy), giving the Bolts the solid top-six they need to go on a playoff run.

As for the defense, the Lightning spread the playing time out fairly evenly at even-strength. Emil Lilleberg (8:04) and Victor Hedman (9:03) had the least amount of time while Darren Raddysh (15:55) and J.J. Moser (15:49) had the most. The other three defenders weren’t that far behind as Charle-Edouard D’Astous returned with 14:46 of ice time while Erik Cernak was at 14:03 and Ryan McDonagh was at 13:01. Expect a similar split tonight as the Lightning try to keep Carolina as bottled up as possible.

Potential Lines

Tampa Bay Lightning

Forwards:

Gage GoncalvesBrayden PointNikita KucherovBrandon HagelDominic JamesJake GuentzelZemgus GirgensonsYanni GourdePontus HolmbergScott SabourinOliver Bjorkstrand

Defense:

J.J. MoserDarren RaddyshRyan McDonaghErik CernakVictor HedmanCharle-Edouard D’AstousEmil Lilleberg

Goaltenders:

Jonas JohanssonAndrei Vasilevskiy

Carolina Hurricanes

Forwards:

Andrei SvechnikovSebastian AhoSeth JarvisTaylor HallLogan StankovenJackson BlakeNik EhlersJordan StaalJordan MartinookWilliam CarrierMark JankowskiEric Robinson

Defense:

Jaccob SlavinJalen ChatfieldK’Andre MillerSean WalkerShayne GhostisbehereAlexander Nikishin

Goaltenders:

Brandon BussiFrederik Anderesen