Tampa Bay Lightning Search For Redemption Against The Los Angeles Kings

The Tampa Bay Lightning charge into the Staples Center in search of redemption against captain Dustin Brown and the Los Angeles Kings.

The Tampa Bay Lightning has a tough road ahead of them in the coming week. That journey starts tonight as the Lightning charge into the City of Angels in search of a little redemption for the 4-2 loss handed to them a few weeks ago at the hand of the Los Angeles Kings.

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Last night, the Lightning delivered a sound defeat to Antti Niemi and the San Jose Sharks. Now, they must pack up their skates and prepare to do it all over again tonight, this time in Los Angeles.

There is no denying that this is going to be a tough road in front of them.

Let’s be honest here, the Los Angeles Kings didn’t win the Stanley Cup twice in three years by sitting around and twiddling their thumbs. The good news is that if you take a look at the standings this season, the Lightning haven’t exactly been known for sitting around and watching the puck sail past them.

There are a couple of things that the Lightning is going to have to do if they want to come away from this encounter with the two points. The first of which is be aggressive.

The Tampa Bay Lightning has proved that they can turn up the heat when necessary. In fact, they are 24-4-4 when they score first. If the can keep their feet on the pedal for a complete sixty minutes of hockey, then they will create the chances that they need and the openings they are looking for in order to come out on top.

Another thing that the Bolts are going to have to get a handle on is the costly turnovers in the defensive zone. Andrei Vasilevskiy has proven that he has what it takes to play here in the National Hockey League; however, even goaltenders like Jonathan Quick will give up a goal when the defense gets completely blindsided or a forward tries to be cute and ends up giving up the puck thanks to a bad pass.

The Lightning will also have to neutralize the Kings’ offensive threats. Center Tyler Toffoli leads the Kings so far this season in the goal scoring department with 18. On the other hand, they also have center Jeff Carter who is well above the pack with 42 points so far this season.

These two will serve as one of the biggest challenges to young Russian netminder Vasilevskiy, who is expected to get the start tonight against the Kings.

On the other side of the ice, Kings goaltender Jonathan Quick will have to deal with a plethora of players who are chomping at the bit to get out ahead in tonight’s game. At the top of the list is Lightning captain Steven Stamkos.

Stamkos leads the Bolts in points so far this season, having scored his 30^th goal of the season in the final seconds of the first period last night against the Sharks.

There is also the little matter of Tyler Johnson. Johnson currently leads the Bolts in points with 54 and has a phenomenal plus-25 rating. Johnson, along with his linemates Ondrej Palat and Nikita Kucherov account for 144 points so far this season; 53 goals and 91 assists. The Triplets account for just under a third of the Lightning’s goals so far this season.

The battle between the pipes is going to be a rather interesting one. In the eight games he’s played so far this season, Vasilevskiy has gone 4-1-1 with a Goals Allowed Average of 2.00 and a Save Percentage of .932.

The numbers on the other side of the ice look eerily similar. In the 47 games Jonathan Quick has played with the Kings this season, he has gone 21-15-10 with a Goals Allowed Average of 2.50 and a Save Percentage of .909. If it comes to a battle between these two netminders, we are going to be in for one nail biter of a game.

This road trip is going to be one that can either make or break the Lightning. The series will push the Bolts to their limit and see just how they will be able to handle themselves in a playoff-intensive situation. Could we be looking at the future of the Tampa Bay Lightning hockey season? We won’t have to wait much longer to find out.

The puck drops at 10:30 p.m. EST tonight is Los Angeles. Here’s a look at all the information you’ll need to make sure you don’t miss a moment of the action tonight as the Lightning hope to electrify the Kings and earn their redemption.

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