Red hot Lightning face-off against struggling Red Wings
By Ben Thomas
The Tampa Bay Lightning look to get win number 54 tonight as they go on the road against their division rival, the Detroit Red Wings.
The Bolts are 8-2-0 in their last 10 games and will look to continue this surge against a team that has already mathematically been eliminated from playoff contention and are currently on a three-game losing streak.
Undefeated so far against the Red Wings this year (3-0-0), Tampa Bay will look to sweep Detroit in the season series for the third consecutive season. The teams face off just five days after playing each other when the Lightning beat the Red Wings 3-2 on Mar. 9 in Tampa. Nikita Kucherov had two goals in the win and Ryan McDonagh also added a goal.
Tampa Bay Lightning
The Lightning are coming off a commanding 6-2 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs where the Bolts had everything working and got production from every line as Cedric Paquette and Tyler Johnson both had two goals in the victory.
Heading into tonight’s matchup, the Bolts are close to matching the record for most wins in a season by the franchise, with just one more needed to tie. They are also just three point shy of tying the franchise record for most points in a season, which was set in the 2017-18 season when the team hit 113 points for the year.
Projected lines after Wednesday’s practice:
Forwards:
Ondrej Palat–Steven Stamkos-J.T Miller
Tyler Johnson-Brayden Point-Nikita Kucherov
Alex Killorn–Anthony Cirelli–Mathieu Joseph
Adam Erne-Cedric Paquette-Yanni Gourde
Defenseman:
Ryan McDonagh-Erik Cernak
Braydon Coburn–Mikhail Sergachev
Puck drops at 7:30 eastern time tonight in Detroit and should be another great game.
How to watch:
Fox Sports Sun; pregame coverage starts at 7 p.m. ET