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Tampa Bay Lightning: Home stand starts tonight vs Vancouver Canucks

By Benjamin Henderson

Oct 10, 2023; Tampa, Florida, USA; Tampa Bay Lightning left wing Brandon Hagel (38) scores a goal on a penalty shot during the third period against the Nashville Predators at Amalie Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement Neitzel-USA TODAY Sports
Oct 10, 2023; Tampa, Florida, USA; Tampa Bay Lightning left wing Brandon Hagel (38) scores a goal on a penalty shot during the third period against the Nashville Predators at Amalie Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement Neitzel-USA TODAY Sports /
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The Tampa Bay Lightning didn’t do so great on their three-game road trip, losing all three games to Atlantic Division foes.

So, what is the cure for being terrible on the road? Well, step one is to not play on the road, and tonight the Bolts will kick off a five-game home stand against the Vancouver Canucks.

Tampa Bay Lightning: Back home

We will not sound alarms four games into the season, but this five-game home stand will be crucial for keeping Tampa’s head above water heading into November. A solid stretch here, and we will look back at last week and go, “That was weird.”

But if the Tampa Bay Lightning go something like 1-3-1, giving them six points through nine games with a record of 2-5-2, there might be a problem.

The health of Captain Steven Stamkos is still unknown as of the time of this writing. Notably, in their game against Buffalo, Jon Cooper switched up Tampa’s top line and put Alex Barre-Boulet with Nikita Kucherov and Brayden Point. That pairing had over eight minutes of ice time together, generating six shots while giving up just three, though they did surrender three high-danger chances while generating none.

Who to watch for Vancouver

On opening night, Vancouver smacked Edmonton 8-1.

On Tuesday, they lost 2-0 to Philadelphia.

Hockey is the greatest sport ever.

Star Elias Pettersson leads Vancouver, but according to reports, he was “banged up” and missed practice yesterday. No word yet on whether he will play tonight.

The Canucks also have former Tampa Bay Lightning member J.T. Miller, who is coming off an 82-point season and already has four points on the year in 2023-24. Miller is normally paired up with Brock Boeser, who had four goals on opening night against Edmonton.

Vegas Says…

Maybe it’s because they are back at home, but Vegas likes Tampa in this game at -140. Compared to favorites on the night across the NHL, Tampa is somewhat in the middle.

Vegas also sees a higher-scoring game, giving this game the 7 goal over/under. Tampa had that bump from the standard 6.5 last game, and the game was 2-1 with under 10 seconds to go.

Hockey is the greatest sport ever.

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