Tampa Bay Lightning Head To The Desert In Search Of Redemption
The Tampa Bay Lightning take on the Arizona Coyotes at the Gila River Arena in Glendale, Arizona.
The Tampa Bay Lightning has been on quite the skid lately. Despite having victory within their grasp, the Lightning has dropped the last two games, giving other teams in the Atlantic Division plenty of opportunity to make up some ground on the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Tonight, the Tampa Bay Lightning venture deep into the desert to take on captain Shane Doan and the Arizona Coyotes in search of a little redemption. This is going to be an interesting East vs. West matchup between the Tampa Bay Lightning and the Arizona Coyotes. While the Lightning are looking the reclaim their place at the top of the Atlantic Division, the Coyotes are scratching and clawing for a Wild Card spot.
There are two aspects of the game the Tampa Bay Lightning are going to need to adjust if they want to be successful tonight against the Coyotes. The first of those aspects is going to be consistency. At some point earlier in the season, this began to sound a bit like a broken record. Unfortunately, at this point in the season, the Tampa Bay Lightning can’t possibly allow the trend to continue.
The Lightning need to come out of the tunnel with passion in their hearts and set the tone of the game early in the first period. Once they’ve accomplished this, the Bolts will need to keep the pace going for a whole 60 minutes of hockey. If the Tampa Bay Lightning can start the trend tonight and keep it going for the remainder of the regular season, the Bolts may find themselves in a comfortable position heading into the postseason.
The second aspect of the game that needs adjusting is the sheer amount of overpassing the team does. We know, we know…another broken record topic. Unfortunately, it is an issue that seems to have manifested itself as of late. It almost always seems as if rather than taking the shot themselves, the team is dead set on trying to pass the puck to Tampa Bay Lightning captain Steven Stamkos.
Now, we will concede this method has been fruitful for them over the course of the last few games. Steven Stamkos has come home with four goals and one assist for a total of five points in the last three games. Unfortunately, this method never works in the long-term and always seems to backfire and cause one heck of an issue for the team.
The Arizona Coyotes have quite the offensive core this season. On their side of the ice, there are two players, in particular, the Tampa Bay Lightning will need to neutralize if they want to come home with a victory over the Coyotes tonight. The first of those players is Coyotes captain Shane Doan. Doan leads the Coyotes in goals scored with 25. When you add in his 18 assists for a total of 43 points, putting him in third place on the team in overall points.
The second member of the Coyotes roster the Tampa Bay Lightning should be weary of is defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson. The Coyotes defenseman leads the team in both assists and overall points. In the 66 games he’s played this season, Ekman-Larsson has scored 19 goals and 30 assists for a total of 49 points.
On the other side of the ice, it is Tampa Bay Lightning captain Steven Stamkos who is leading the way for the Bolts. Stamkos has 33 goals and 24 assists for a total of 57 points. This places Stamkos in first place on the team in terms of goals and overall points. Right on the heels of the 26-year-old Lightning captain is Lightning right wing Nikita Kucherov. Kucherov has brought home 26 goals and 31 assists for a total of 57 points.
This will be the second and final meeting between these two teams this season. In their first encounter this season, the Tampa Bay Lightning were able to come out on top with a 2-1 victory at the Amalie Arena here in Tampa.
Next: Ben Bishop On Course For An MVP Season
Including tonight’s matchup, there are just 11 games left in the regular season. If the Tampa Bay Lightning are going to make their move in order to secure a position in the postseason, they are going to have to make it now. In just a few hours, the Lightning will take the ice in an East vs. West showdown. It will be more than a little interesting to see how everything plays out on the ice.