The Tampa Bay Lightning hope to get a handle on their offensive woes and strike down the Buffalo Sabres at the First Niagara Center Thursday night.
The Tampa Bay Lightning’s offensive woes continued on Tuesday night as they were defeated 2-1 by the Detroit Red Wings at the Joe Louis Arena. Tomorrow night, the Lightning will look to get a handle on their offensive woes as they attempt to strike down captain Brian Gionta and the Buffalo Sabres at the First Niagara Center in Buffalo.
At this early point in the season, the Buffalo Sabres have been experiencing some of the same difficulties the Lightning have encountered. While the Tampa Bay Lightning may be four positions above the Buffalo Sabres in the Atlantic Division standings, these two teams are only separated by a total of four points.
Anything can happen this early in the season, and the Lightning will need their heads in the game if they want to bring home the two points in the third game of their four-game road trip.
Earlier this week, we put together a piece on the Five Things the Tampa Bay Lightning Need to Do to Get Back on Track. In the first period on Tuesday night against the Red Wings, it almost seemed as if they had taken some of those points to heart. Unfortunately, once they hit the ice for the second period it seemed as if they were falling into their bad habits once again.
It is definitely too early in the season to be panicking about the state of the team. As most of you know, the Tampa Bay Lightning struggled for quite some time last season before powering back and taking over the Eastern Conference. At the same time, as Tampa Bay Lightning Head Coach Jon Cooper told Tampa Bay Times Staff Writer Joe Smith, the Lightning are “Losing them [games] at alarming rate.”
While the Tampa Bay Lightning did seem to muster a decent offensive towards the end of the third period on Tuesday night, it seems as if the goal post and crossbar has become the bane of the Lightning’s existence. We have lost count of how many times players like Lightning captain Steven Stamkos and center Tyler Johnson have set up a beautiful shot only to be denied by the resonating clang of the goal post.
Both the Tampa Bay Lightning and the Buffalo Sabres are in need of the two points tomorrow night. The deciding factor is going to be which of these two Atlantic Division teams wants it the most. Unfortunately for the Lightning, they may once again be coming into tomorrow night’s game without two of their more valuable players.
According to Joe Smith, both Lightning center Cedric Paquette and left wing Jonathan Drouin are questionable for tomorrow night’s game in Buffalo. Thus far, Drouin has been forced to miss a total of 4 games while Paquette has been sidelined a total of five.
The Tampa Bay Lightning has yet to make the official announcement, but it is expected that Tampa Bay Lightning goaltender Ben Bishop will get the start between the pipes in Buffalo. According to NHL.com, it will be veteran goaltender Chad Johnson between the pipes for the Buffalo Sabres.
Chad Johnson has been in net both times the Tampa Bay Lightning and Buffalo Sabres have met so far this season. The first of these two encounters came on October 10th where the Lightning defeated the Sabres 4-1 at the First Niagara Center. The second was on October 17th at the Amalie Arena in Tampa where the Bolts came out on top 2-1.
There is no denying that both of these teams are hungry for a win, and if we know the Tampa Bay Lightning the way we do, we are pretty certain they are prepared to lay it all out on the line. For some strange reason, the Lightning seem to play better when they have a fire lit underneath them. With the frustration of their recent offensive woes crackling beneath their feet, we are sure they will be ready to leave it all out on the ice in Buffalo tomorrow night.
The puck is scheduled to drop at 7:00 p.m. Make sure to stay connected right here at Bolts By The Bay for all the latest news, updates, commentary, and more.