Tampa Bay Lightning @ St. Louis Blues Preview
By Austin Hart
The Tampa Bay Lightning (26-13-1) kick off a five-game road trip tonight as they stop in Missouri to take on the St. Louis Blues (21-19-3). Puck drop is at 8:00 p.m. ET with the Lightning being touted as a -178 favorite yet again with an over/under set at 6.5.
Just two nights ago, the Bolts were able to hold on to a 5-4 victory over the Vancouver Canucks and their ninth straight win at home. Andrei Vasilevskiy made 36 saves on the night and Steven Stamkos netted the 499th goal of his career on a the power play. This will surely be worth monitoring over the next few games to see if Stamkos can become the only player in Lightning history to reach 500 goals, similar to the 1,000 point milestone he reached with the franchise earlier this season. He would be joining the likes of Sidney Crosby and Alex Ovechkin as the only active players to reach 500 goals.
On his looming milestone: "The only time I think about it is when I get asked about it - I get asked about it a lot." #VANvsTBL
— Tampa Bay Lightning (@TBLightning) January 13, 2023
The St. Louis Blues have looked solid since the start of 2023, going 4-2 in an attempt to stay in a tightly-contested Central division race. However, having two of their top forwards in Ryan O’Reilly & Vladimir Tarasenko on IR has proved to be a difficult task, forcing different role players to step up in ways the Blues didn’t necessarily expect coming into the season. Goaltending has to improve as well for St. Louis with Jordan Binnington and Thomas Greiss both sporting Goals Against Averages of 3.26 and 3.22 respectively.
These teams have already met once this season in Tampa as the Lightning came away with a 5-2 victory on Black Friday. Brayden Point shined bright with two goals on the night and Nikita Kucherov also pitched in to the offensive onslaught with three assists. This was also a very physical game, as is the norm with St. Louis, with numerous fights to be accounted for. It’s likely the same type of energy and animosity will be displayed in this game, so look for the Lightning to try and match the intensity of the Blues once again, this time in St. Louis.
INJURIES: Lightning LW Rudolfs Balcers remains out.
Defenseman Nick Leddy is still unavailable for the Blues. A full list of STL players on IR can be found here, courtesy of CBS Sports.
Odds (Courtesy of FanDuel): TBL -178 ML/STL +146 ML, O 6.5 +106/U 6.5 -130
Where to watch: Bally Sports Sun, NHL PowerPlay, ESPN+
Where to listen: Lightning Radio 24/7, 102.5 MHz-FM
Enterprise Center, Saint Louis, MO
January 14, 2023, 8:00 p.m. ET