Bolts seek revenge tonight in Eastern Conference Final rematch vs Capitals

The Tampa Bay Lightning are back home tonight to face off against the defending Stanley Cup champion Washington Capitals for the first time this season.

This will be the the first of three matchups between these two teams over the next two weeks, accounting for three of the Bolts’ next seven games. Tonight’s matchup will serve as the first meeting since the Capitals eliminated the Lightning in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Final last year.

It was a series that left a terrible taste in the mouths of Bolts nation and tonight will be a chance to get some very much anticipated revenge. In fact, these three meetings over the next seven games will be a prime opportunity to gauge just how this Lightning squad matches up against the Metropolitan Division leaders.

Physicality was a key factor that gave the Capitals the edge over the Bolts last year and it will undoubtedly be something to keep an eye out for in tonight’s game. With 11 games remaining in the regular season, the Lightning already have three players with more hits than Victor Hedman’s team-leading 139 for the 2017-18 season: Dan Girardi (146), Erik Cernak (160) and Cedric Paquette (234).

Paquette has surged in his hit stats, with more than 100 additional hits this year. He has been a consistent part of the Lightning’s fourth line, taking the lead in filling that gritty forward role for the team.

Tampa Bay Lightning /

Tampa Bay Lightning

And how about the young 6-foot-4, 225-pound rookie blueliner Erik Cernak? He has provided some more size and much needed physicality on the backend for this Tampa Bay roster, finding a consistent home in the lineup since the middle of November.

Both teams are coming into tonight with an 8-2 record in their last 10 games. The Caps took down the Flyers with a dominating 5-2 performance in Philadelphia two nights ago. Tampa Bay is coming off a big 5-4 comeback victory in Detroit over the Red Wings, where the Bolts put up five-straight goals which included four in the third period.

It appears the Bolts will be without defensemen Dan Girardi and Anton Stralman yet again, so we will see Jan Rutta remain in the lineup alongside Braydon Coburn. Andrei Vasilevskiy had an uncharacteristic shaky start two nights ago, letting in three goals on less than 10 Detroit shots on net. Expect a bounce back performance from the Russian netminder tonight, unless of course Louis Domingue gets the call.