Raw Charge
Summary
Time: 7:00 PM EST Location: Benchmark International Arena TV/Stream/Radio: The Spot, TSN3, ESPN+, 102.5 The Bone Odds: Lightning -240 Know the Opponents: Arctic Ice Hockey After a good, but not great road trip through the deserts and mountains of the far mid-west, the Tampa Bay Lightning are back for a brief, one-game homestand as they take on the Winnipeg Jets (who are starting their own gauntlet of a road trip). The Bolts enjoyed a nice little break after their trip, and spent at least a portion of the time away from the rink fishing and watching baseball. They were back on the ice on Wednesday, focused on getting back to their winning ways after a two-game winless streak. The offense was fine on the road trip. Even in their loss to Colorado they generated chances. They weren’t great chances, but they still had the fortitude to shoot the puck, even if it wasn’t necessarily on net as only 34 of their 75 shot attempts actually made it on net. They were better at putting the puck on, and in, the net against Vegas and Utah. Defensively, it was a different story. They allowed 13 goals, including a short-handed one, 92 scoring chances, and 40 high-danger chances. Those numbers aren’t what we’re used to seeing from the Lightning over the last couple of years. Their opponents had a hand in it as well as the trio of teams were some of the best in the Western Conference, but the Lightning have to be better against top competition. The good news is that they’ve been pretty good at shutting things down on home ice. 5v5 stats (per 60 minutes) Home Away Goals Against 1.50 3.52 Expected Goals Against 2.30 2.83 Shot Attempts Against 49.37 53.20 Scoring Chances Against 21.55 26.32 High-Danger Chances Against 9.02 11.43 Via Natural Stat Trick All of those home numbers are in the top ten in the league at this point in the season. The away numbers, not so much. A big part of the gap in numbers is the Lightning’s inability to get into their forecheck and disrupt their opponents’ breakouts on the road. Keeping the puck 180 feet away from Andrei Vasilevskiy goes a long way to cutting down the shots and high-danger chances against. At home, they’ve been able to make life miserable for other teams trying to work their way down the ice. Back in the friendly confines, against a team that hasn’t exactly lit up the scoreboard is exactly what the Lightning need to get going again. Winnipeg has been okay defensively. Their 5-1 loss to Florida on Tuesday not withstanding, they’ve been pretty locked down, and despite a winless streak that has now stretched to six games, have been fairly competitive. Nine of their twelve games have been decided by one goal. A big problem has been that they have been extraordinary top heavy. If the Lightning can shut down the top line of Kyle Connor, Mark Scheifele, and Cole Perfetti, they have a great chance of picking up the win. That line has been on the ice for ten of the Jets’ 5v5 goals this season, the only other line to be on the ice for more than one Adam Lowry, Alex Iafello, and Isak Rosen. They should get some help with Dawson Mercer, who might not be the most prolific scorer, constantly provides some depth scoring. While it’s been a rough stretch for the Jets of late, they have cleared one of the biggest hurdles of the season, the Connor Hellebuyck situation. They dealt their disgruntled netminder to the New Jersey Devils, and can move forward. Stuart Skinner hasn’t been the issue during the losing streak as he’s gone 0-2-2, but has posted a 2.73 GA, .904 SV%, and 2.25 GSAx. He’ll be the number one moving forward with either Clay Stevenson or the newly acquired Nico Dawes as his back-up. There is a good chance the Lightning return to an 11/7 line-up after going 12/6 versus Utah. With a couple of forwards banged up (Zemgus Girgensons is out while Brandon Hagel is a game-time decision) the Bolts will likely lean on their defensive depth. After missing the Utah game, Victor Hedman has been on the ice for the last two days of practice and seems to be good to go for the game. The Lightning might have some mixed lines going tonight, but whoever is out there will be focused on dictating the pace of play against a Jets team that is struggling. Getting the puck into the zone and banging around the boards will be a good way to get back on track. Forwards: Gage Goncalves Brayden Point Jake Guentzel Brandon Hagel Anthony Cirelli Nikita Kucherov Pontus Holmberg Dominic James Ilya Mikheyev Jeff Viel Conor Geekie Defense: J.J. Moser John Carlson Ryan McDonagh Erik Cernak Victor Hedman Max Crozier Charle-Edouard D’Astous Goaltenders: Andrei Vasilevskiy Dennis Hildeby Winnipeg Jets Forwards: Kyle Connor Mark Scheifele Cole Perfetti Alex Iafallo Viggo Bjork Dawson Mercer Isak Rosen Adam Lowry Gabe Vilardi Cole Koepke Morgan Barron Brad Lambert Defense: Dylan Samberg Neal Pionk Elias Salomonsson Dylan Demelo Mario Ferraro Tyrel Bauer Goaltenders: Stu Skinner Clay Stevenson