Tampa Bay Lightning Need Consistency As They Head Into Montreal

The Tampa Bay Lightning are about to finish off their four-game road trip as they charge into the Bell Centre to take on Max Pacioretty and the Montreal Canadiens. This will be the first time these two teams have met in Montreal since last season’s ill-fated playoff run.

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If the Tampa Bay Lightning wants to end this road trip on a high note, the one thing they are going to have to find is consistency. In the last few games they have either started out with a bang and fizzled out in the final forty minutes or had an incredibly rocky start and forced to battle back in the final forty.

The Lightning need to regain the consistency that they had in the beginning of the season where they played a solid sixty minutes of hockey and seemed as if they were going to be unstoppable this season.

This is not the first time that these two teams have come head-to-head this season. If their last meeting is any indication of what we can see this time around, it is going to be quite a high scoring event. Thanks in large part to a hat trick from Lightning captain Steven Stamkos, the Bolts all-out dominated the Habs in a 7-1 victory.

Stamkos has hit a bit of a scoring skid as of late, but we have been seeing glimmers of the Steven Stamkos we all know and love from time to time. If there was ever an encounter for the captain to get back to his normal form, this would be the one.

Much like the Lightning, the Canadiens have quite a few players with scoring prowess of their own. Leading the pack for the Habs is left wing Max Pacioretty. Pacioretty has netted 16 goals and 15 assists for a total of 31 points.

Right on Pacioretty’s heels is defenseman P.K. Subban with 8 goals and 19 assists for a total of 27 points and center Alex Galchenyuk with 10 goals and 17 assists for 27 points as well.

There is no denying that the Canadiens are coming into this on a heck of a hot streak. If the Habs are able to topple the Bolts and bring home the win, which of course we don’t believe they will, it will be their seventh straight win. This would definitely be a nice thing for the Bolts to put to an end.

One thing that could have an adverse effect on the outcome of this game is the news that Lightning defenseman Radko Gudas will be forced to miss an indefinite amount of time as he recovers from arthroscopic knee surgery, which he will undergo on Tuesday.

It seems as if the Canadiens will be down a man as well. According to ESPN, Montreal Canadiens right wing P.A. Parenteau will miss his second straight game thanks to an Upper Body Injury.

The Lightning will more than likely be facing Canadiens goaltender Carey Price between the pipes. So far this season he has maintained a record of 22-9-1 with a Goals Allowed Average of 2.14 and a Save Percentage of .929.

On the other hand, Price wasn’t nearly as good when he faced the Lightning earlier in the season. On October 13^th, Price allowed four goal before being pulled after two periods of play. Price would not only earn the loss in this one, but he would earn himself a Save Percentage of .826.

Things can always change as we approach game time, but at this point and time all signs would indicate that we will see Ben Bishop between the pipes for the Tampa Bay Lightning. Bishop has been having his fair share of struggles lately, which have led some to believe that the decline of Ben Bishop has already begun.

While we will assert that he has not exactly been playing like the Ben Bishop we all know and love, we still have faith that the goal stopping machine we have come to know as Big Ben has what it takes to get the job done when we need it the most. The Lightning’s encounter with the Canadiens would be one of those instances.

As we mentioned before, the biggest key to tonight’s game is going to be consistency. The Lightning are going to have to play a full 60 minute game if they hope to put the Canadiens’ six-game win streak to a screeching halt.

From there, the Bolts will need to continue to put shots on goal, keep a man in front of the net, and battle for the rebound. As the old saying goes, the best defense is a good offense. If you keep the puck out of their hands, then there is no way for them to score.

What do you think the score will be when the final buzzer sounds tonight? What do you think is the most important key to a Lightning victory in Montreal? Let us know what you think in the comments below.

The puck drops at 7:30 p.m. Are you ready to Be The Thunder?

Next: Radko Gudas Out Indefinitely With Knee Injury

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