The Tampa Bay Lightning have yet to claim back-to-back victories in 2014-15, but they’ll get a chance to win a second straight tomorrow night when they take on the Winnipeg Jets at the MTS Centre. After alternating wins and losses through seven games this year, Tampa will undoubtedly look to establish some consistency and improve on what has been a very underwhelming road trip thus far.
While some might be quick to look at the Jets (2-4-0) and scoff, it’s hard to take any opponent lightly when you consider that the Bolts were only minutes away from going winless in Alberta. A late goal from Valtteri Filppula and an overtime winner from Ondrej Palat were the only things that kept Tampa from going 0-2-0 in a province that hasn’t seen many wins over the last few seasons.
With that in mind, it’s imperative that the Lightning treat the Jets as they would treat the Montreal Canadiens, or the Boston Bruins, or the New York Rangers. There are no nights off in the National Hockey League. The Bolts have a game to play tomorrow night, and it’s worth two points.
The good news for Tampa Bay in advance of Friday’s contest is that the injury bug is slowly clearing out of the team’s locker room. Both Alex Killorn and Radko Gudas returned to practice yesterday, with the latter declaring himself ready for action as soon as called upon. As a result, the Lightning assigned Luke Witkowski to the Syracuse Crunch.
According to Joe Smith of the Tampa Bay Times, the practice lines looked like this:
Jonathan Drouin-Valtteri Filppula-Steven Stamkos
Ondrej Palat-Tyler Johnson-Brett Connolly
Nikita Kucherov-Vladislav Namestnikov-J.T. Brown
Brenden Morrow-Brian Boyle-Mike Blunden
Matt Carle-Anton Stralman
Jason Garrison-Radko Gudas
Eric Brewer-Andrej Sustr
Mark Barberio
Ben Bishop
Evgeni Nabokov
Smith noted that the top line put on an “a show” at practice, so here’s hoping that translates into game action.
That Jon Cooper has stuck with those combinations, despite a lackluster performance in Calgary, shouldn’t surprise anyone. With both Killorn and Ryan Callahan still fighting ailments, the coach just doesn’t have a whole lot of room to move with his lineup.
One area where he does have room to shake things up, however, is on the man-advantage unit. The power play was dreadful in both Calgary and Edmonton. As such, the first unit at practice included Stamkos, Drouin, Connolly, Filppula, and Stralman. There’s a whole lot of talent there. If that setup does indeed find itself in tomorrow’s game, the potential for big things is there.
This is the first of only two meetings between the Jets and Bolts this year. The former Southeast Division rivals don’t see each other too often anymore, but that doesn’t mean tomorrow’s game is any less significant. The Lightning are looking to keep pace with the Montreal Canadiens in the Atlantic, while the Jets are aiming to keep themselves in the playoff race. There’s a fair amount at stake.
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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