Tampa Bay Lightning Hope To Electrify The Toronto Maple Leafs

The Tampa Bay Lightning played one of the better games that they have played in a few weeks on Saturday night at the Amalie Arena where they were able to defeat the Carolina Hurricanes by the score of 2-1, giving the Bolts a two-game win streak.

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Tonight, the Lightning head back into the Amalie Arena with the hopes of extending that win streak to three after electrifying the Toronto Maple Leafs in one of the final games of 2014, and the final game in the current home stand.

The Toronto Maple Leafs are heading into tonight’s encounter in a position that has become all-too-familiar to the Tampa Bay Lightning this season. Not only are they coming off of an incredibly difficult 6-4 loss to Dave Bolland and the Florida Panthers, but they will be playing the second game in a back-to-back series.

This leaves the Leafs vulnerable to so many different situations. The first of those is frustration. No one enjoys coming off of a loss; especially not one in which the opposition scored six goals. The other is exhaustion. The Lightning have experienced this far too many times this season, which means they know how important for them it is that they capitalize on this opportunity before them.

There are a few keys to tonight’s game that are going to be essential if the Lightning want to bring home a big win in their next to last game of the year.

The most important of these keys is going to be a stronger special teams unit. If you have watched a single game in the last month or so, you know exactly what we are taking about. The Power Play unit has fallen flat on its face.

Also, the penalty kill has provided teams with far too many opportunities for capitalization; i.e. bad turnovers, failed passes, and more. We all know that this team has what it takes to get things together. They started out the season on a pretty big high. What is the cause of this seemingly sudden downfall? We wish we knew.

Another key is going to be the ability to shut down their point scorers. At this point, the two to watch out for are wingers Phil Kessel and James van Riemsdyk. Kessel currently leads the Maple Leafs with 17 goals and 21 assists. Van Riemsdyk is hot on Kessel’s heels with 16 goals and 18 assists for a total of 34 points.

Leading the charge for the Tampa Bay Lightning is center Tyler Johnson. Johnson has earned at least one point in each of his last six starts. So far this season, the twenty four year old center has tallied 13 goals and 24 assists for a total of 37 points to accompany his plus-24 rating.

Right behind Johnson is the captain Steven Stamkos and Johnson’s linemate Nikita Kucherov. Stamkos has brought home 19 goals and 17 assists for a total of 36 points. Kucherov has scored 15 goals of his own in addition to 19 assists for a total of 24 points to accompany his plus-22 rating.

Currently, Johnson and Kucherov lead the Lightning in plus/minus and find themselves in first and third respectively in the entire National Hockey League. It is worth mentioning that their fellow “triplet line” member Ondrej Palat is currently in fourth place in the league with a plus-19 rating.

Both the Lightning and the Maple Leafs are contending with injuries and player losses right now. As many of you know, Jonathan Drouin was has been forced to miss games due to illness, which was thankfully confirmed to not be mumps-related.

Also, while he is making some improvement, defenseman Jason Garrison is also not expected to play tonight against the Maple Leafs due to an undisclosed injury.

At the same time, the Maple Leafs will be without goaltender Jonathan Bernier who is day-to-day with flu-like symptoms, center Leo Komarov who is day-to-day with a concussion, and former Tampa Bay Lightning right wing Richard Panik who was injured (possible concussion) after a hit from Florida Panthers left wing Scottie Upshall last night.

All in all, we all know what the Tampa Bay Lightning can do. They have proved this win by win all season long. Even the best of teams, like the Lightning, fall into a rut every now and then. It is how you pull yourself out of these ruts and continue to overcome that really defines your season.

There is still a lot of hockey left to be played this season, but if the Lighting can manage to stay on the path they have set themselves on this season, there are great things in their immediate future. Lord Stanley is in need of another visit to Hockey Paradise, you know.

All of this continues on tonight against the Toronto Maple Leafs. The puck drops at 7:30 p.m. Are you ready to Be The Thunder?

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