Redemption: Previewing the Lightning vs Senators Matchup
After a win against the Los Angeles Kings in overtime on Monday night, the Tampa Bay Lightning hope to redeem themselves after a 4-0 loss against the Ottawa Senators on Saturday. The battle will be tough, however, as the Senators beat the Florida Panthers 8-2 on Monday night, their second blowout win in the same number of games.
The Lightning, who sit on an 18-6-4 record, are tied for third place in the league. The Senators, who sit on a 9-16-1 record, sit at 30th place in the league, which is very low compared to the expectations of being able to compete for a playoff spot this year.
Top Players:
With an injury-ridden team, with losses including Nikita Kucherov and Brayden Point, the Lightning have been playing extremely well. Anthony Cirelli and Erik Cernak have both spent time coming in and out of the lineup as well due to day-to-day injuries.
Steven Stamkos: 13G 20A 33P
Victor Hedman: 6G 22A 28P
Alex Killorn: 8G 15A 23P
The Lightning’s offense was solid Tuesday after the tough loss to Ottawa on Sunday, but there are still some issues that have been shown since the losses of Kucherov and Point. While most fans knew this would happen, most were surprised to see how well the Lightning dealt with these losses.
The defense, on the other hand, has had little to no issues since the rough start Victor Hedman had. Most of the defensive issues have been started by the offense making their own mistakes and compared to the beginning of the season, they’ve played very well.
The Senators have had a lot of issues with goaltending, which has been the main reason for their struggles so far this season. The defense is solid, the offense is just okay, and the goaltending might be the worst in the league.
Drake Batherson: 9G 19A 28P
Josh Norris: 14G 8A 22P
Brady Tkachuk: 12G 10A 22P
The Senators’ offense has been a struggle this season, with only a few players making an impact on the scoresheet. With many young players up front, the Senators have had to adapt to focusing on defense, but with the goaltending being so poor, there’s no change for the most part.
The defense on this team is underrated and have been playing very well this season. If this defense had a half-decent offense, and at least one NHL-caliber goalie, they would be a wild card team.
Andrei Vasilevskiy (2.15 GAA, .927sv%) will most likely be starting in net for the Lightning after Brian Elliott’s allowed three goals last time the Lightning faced the Senators. Anton Forsberg (3.20 GAA, .908sv%) will most likely be starting in net for the Senators, trying to best Vasilevskiy and the Lightning in net. Forsberg has been solid since getting more action in the Ottawa net. He has won six of his 10 starts, including shutting out Tampa Bay on Saturday.
Predictions:
Score: 3-1 Lightning
Shots: 34 Lightning/28 Senators
Top Performer: Steven Stamkos (1G 1A 2P)
Overall Performance: B-
Reasoning:
With Vasilevskiy in net for the Lightning, it’s safe to say fewer goals will be put in the net by the Senators, and if the offense can play like they did against the Kings, then the Lightning should have little trouble finishing this homestand with two more points on the standings.