Stanley Cup Playoffs: Tampa Bay Lightning vs. New Jersey Devils Game 5: How to watch
The Tampa Bay Lightning has an opportunity to advance to the next round should they emerge victoriously over the New Jersey Devils today from the Amalie Arena.
The Tampa Bay Lightning had a long and hard journey to the postseason. The Lightning led the league for a majority of the season and once they reached the pinnacle, every single night was a battle to remain in the top spot. Thankfully, the Lightning possesses some of the most talented players in the National Hockey League.
Now, the postseason is in full swing and the Bolts find themselves presented with an excellent opportunity. The Lightning delivered a 3-1 victory over the New Jersey Devils on Wednesday night at the Prudential Center in Newark, which extended their series lead over the Devils to 3-1. Tonight, as the series returns to the Sunshine State, the Bolts have the opportunity to finish off the series at home and advance to the next round.
Let it be known, this is not going to be an easy feat for the Tampa Bay Lightning. The New Jersey Devils have their backs against the wall right now. This means they are a team with essentially nothing left to lose. They are going to do whatever it takes to keep their series alive and bring things back to Newark.
Tampa Bay Lightning
This means they are going to bring the fight straight to the Bolts. The Lightning needs to be prepared to throw everything back at them and then some. The Bolts will need to be offensively aggressive and unafraid to take shots from the dirty areas, be defensively sound and prevent the Devils from bombarding Lightning netminder Andrei Vasilevskiy, and (for the love of the hockey gods) stay out of the penalty box.
There are two players who have been leading the way for the Lightning throughout the series. One of them comes as no surprise at all and the other has seemingly come out of nowhere. The usual suspect is none other than Nikita Kucherov. Kucherov has four goals and five assists for a total of nine points.
The less obvious top contributor is Alex Killorn. Killorn is currently tied with Kucherov for first place on the team in goals with four. Combined with his lone assist, he has a total of five points in four games. All four of Killorn’s postseason goals were in the first three games of the series. He is the second player in franchise history to achieve this milestone. The first was former Lightning captain Vincent Lecavalier.
If you weren’t lucky enough to score a ticket to tonight’s Game Five showdown, there are still plenty of ways you can stay on top of the action. Here’s a quick look at everything you’ll need to know to make sure you don’t miss a moment of the action between the Tampa Bay Lightning and New Jersey Devils.
Game: Tampa Bay Lightning vs. New Jersey Devils
Venue: Amalie Arena
Location: Tampa, Florida
Date: Saturday, April 21,, 2018
Start Time: 3:00 p.m. EST
TV Info: NBC, NBC Sports Network, SN360, TVAS2
Radio Info: Lightning Radio on 970WFLA or TBL Power Play on iHeartRadio
Live Stream: NBC Sports App – Available in the Google Play Store and the iTunes App Store
The Tampa Bay Lightning won’t have an easy path to the next round, but this is perfectly okay. Nothing in this world worth having comes easily. The Lightning needs to be ready to lay it all out on the line if they want to make it to the next round.
Next: Ryan Callahan A Game-Time Decision For Game 5
As anyone who has watched the Lightning this season knows, the Boys in Blue have everything in they need in order to get the job done and advance to the next round. They simply need to keep their heads in the game and focus on the task at hand; 20 minutes at a time.