After opening their post-Christmas schedule with a 2-1 victory over the Carolina Hurricanes on Saturday night, the Tampa Bay Lightning will get right back to work this evening in a game against the Toronto Maple Leafs.
This is the second of four meetings between the Atlantic Division rivals this season; the Maple Leafs steamrolled the Bolts on their way to a 5-2 win back on November 20th. There is no doubt that the Lightning will be looking for revenge on Monday night.
The Leafs team Tampa will see at Amalie isn’t unlike the Leafs team the National Hockey League saw for most of last season. Despite being an abysmal possession team, Toronto continues to find a way. They rely on their goaltending. They get a little bit lucky. They score a lot of goals, including countless timely tallies. It adds up. Currently with 43 points through 36 games this year, the Maple Leafs are comfortably seated in a wildcard spot.
With all that said, it should be noted that Toronto will be tired as they roll into Tampa. The Leafs played in and lost a 6-4 contest on Sunday night against the Panthers. They were outshot 34-22 and, from this writer’s perspective, failed to look all that inspired in the third period. It was a weak performance. On the one hand, that fatigue will likely work against the Leafs; on the other, the loss might just inspire them. The Lightning can’t take this game lightly.
For evidence of that, consider just how potent the Leafs’ offense can be. Few teams in the NHL can match the Lightning’s offensive output, but the Leafs absolutely can. Like the Bolts, Toronto boasts six players who have tallied 20-plus points so far this year. Further, the Leafs lead the league in goals per game.
That all might pose a bit of a problem for the Lightning. While much better than it was at this time last year, Tampa’s defense is still a work in progress. The unit as a whole has good nights and bad nights. If the Lightning are going to have success against this Toronto team on Monday the defense will have to function at a high level. There isn’t much room for error.
With regards to that defense, it sounds like Jason Garrison is doubtful for the game. According to Erik Erlendsson of the Tampa Tribune, Garrison originally planned to play but woke up on Sunday feeling worse than expected. Like Garrison, Jonathan Drouin’s status is also questionable/doubtful.
Because of those injuries, Jon Cooper’s lineup is expected to look something like this:
Cedric Paquette-Steven Stamkos-Brett Connolly
Ondrej Palat-Tyler Johnson-Nikita Kucherov
Alex Killorn-Valtteri Filppula-Ryan Callahan
Brenden Morrow-Brian Boyle-J.T. Brown
Victor Hedman-Andrej Sustr
Matt Carle-Anton Stralman
Mark Barberio-Radko Gudas
Ben Bishop
Evgeni Nabokov
(Lines courtesy of DailyFaceoff.com)
Slowing down Phil Kessel & Co. is always a challenge, but contending teams have proven able to do it. This Lightning team is considered by many to be a contender. The key now is for them to get the job done.
As always, thanks for reading.
Michael Stuart has been the Tampa Bay Lightning writer for HockeyBuzz since 2012. Visit his archive to read more or follow him on Twitter. 
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