Tampa Bay Lightning: Going head-to-head with the Columbus Blue Jackets

What kind of threat does the Columbus Blue Jackets pose to the Tampa Bay Lightning in their first encounter of the season tonight at the Amalie Arena?

The Tampa Bay Lightning started off the season on the right foot with a 2-1 shootout victory over the Florida Panthers in the Lightning’s Home Opener. Unfortunately, the Bolts hit their first bump in the road in Game 2 when they suffered a 4-1 loss to the Vancouver Canucks.

In the interest of honesty, the Lightning’s lackluster offense, incredibly sloppy passing, and virtually non-existent Power Play had a lot to do with the Lightning’s defeat against the Canucks. The good news is, tonight is another night and the Lightning has a prime opportunity to get back on track.

The Tampa Bay Lightning will open the doors to the Amalie Arena once again to play host to the Columbus Blue Jackets. If the Lightning wants to bring home another two points and start a potential win-streak, they are definitely going to have to be on their game.

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Why you may ask? Other than the obvious reason that they want to play to the best of their abilities night in and night out, the Lightning will come face to face with Blue Jackets goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky tonight.

The Lightning played three games against the Blue Jackets last season. In those three games the Lightning walked away with the two points; however, of those three games, Bobrovsky was only in net for two of them and in the first of those two games, Columbus pushed the Bolts to a 5-4 shootout before attaining the victory.

Prior to tonight’s game, we here at Bolts By The Bay had an opportunity to chat with Lansing Murphy, the Expert over at FanSided’s Columbus Blue Jackets site, Union and Blue. Lanse was kind enough to offer up his opinions on tonight’s game and answer some questions about the matchup.

Tasha St. Pierre (TS): So, let’s get this discussion started with a bang. The Lightning has quite a few incredibly talented players with the potential to cause headaches to other players around the league. If there were any member of the Tampa Bay Lightning roster you could have for the Blue Jackets, who would it be and why?

Lansing Murphy (LM):

Right now it would be Nikita Kucherov for sure. He is one of maybe three wingers in the league better than Artemi Panarin and would immediately make the Panarin situation a lot easier to handle. Kucherov is one of the rare guys in the league that is worth the price of admission alone and I would love to see him in union blue.

If I were starting my roster from scratch though it would be big Victor Hedman. He is one of the few defensemen that I’m envious of as a Columbus Blue Jackets fan. With Seth Jones and Zach Werenski, we’ve got an amazing set of top defenseman that all but three teams in the league can match. With Victor Hedman, the Lightning is one of those teams for sure.

TS: As we mentioned before, the Lightning has quite a few headache-inducing players on their roster who could easily play the starring role in a goalie’s nightmare. Which player do you think poses the biggest threat to the Blue Jackets tonight?

LM: Brayden Point. Every time Point is on the ice I get nervous. The guy is as fast as lightning and gets some great matchups since there’s still a decent player named Steven Stamkos that you guys can roll out ahead of Point.

On a lot of teams Point would be a number one guy but on a Stanley Cup favorite he is relegated to being the fourth or fifth best player on your team. He is great defensively and can skate past anyone on the ice and for those reasons I think Point is the biggest matchup problem for the Jackets.

TS: So, enough about the Tampa Bay Lightning. Let’s have a chat about the Columbus Blue Jackets here for a moment. Taking a close look at the Blue Jackets roster, which player do you think poses the biggest threat to the Lightning’s defense tonight?

LM: Keep your eyes on Anthony Duclair. The much-maligned winger has bounced around the league a lot but has played very well for the Jackets. John Tortorella has whipped him into gear and the high-end talent many teams saw is starting to take form.

He was signed for the league minimum in the offseason and started off on the fourth line for the CBJ. He quickly worked his way up through his preseason play and his production in the first three games to the second line. Duclair is now even drawing top line power play minutes. Watch out for number 91 tonight.

TS: So…here’s the question of the hour. Keeping in mind everything we’ve already discussed, how do you see tonight’s encounter playing out?

LM: The Jackets are feeling good after a come from behind win in Florida on Thursday and did so without Sergei Bobrovsky in net. Confidence is high with the number one in net and some sun on their shoulders.

I worry about the mindset of the more talented Lightning though. After an embarrassing home loss to Vancouver, I expect Tampa to come out firing.

If the Jackets force overtime, I would consider the two-game Florida road trip a success. Unfortunately, I don’t see that happening. Bolts win 4-2 with an empty netter.

We would like to offer up many thanks to Lansing Murphy for taking the time to chat with us about tonight’s contest between the Tampa Bay Lightning and Columbus Blue Jackets. Make sure to follow him on Twitter for his opinions on hockey as well as his work with Union and Blue.

The season is still very new and there’s a lot of hockey to be played before anyone takes a long, hard look at the leaderboard; however, it is never too early in the season to start putting up points. What a team does in the onset of the season can come back to haunt (or bless) them when the race to the postseason starts.

Next. Lightning Favored In Top Two To Win The Stanley Cup. dark

The puck is scheduled to drop at 7:00 p.m. Eastern Time tonight at the Amalie Arena. Stay tuned right here to Bolts By The Bay as we will be with you all the way as the Lightning look to get back on track and bring home a victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets.

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