One day after watching their hometown Buccaneers win the Super Bowl, the Tampa Bay Lightning will take to the ice tonight for a far less important matchup against the Nashville Predators.
With every member of the team decked out in Bucs apparel from head to toe, the Bolts appeared to enjoy the game together yesterday on the road. The Stanley Cup hangover doesn’t seem to have been a thing for the 7-1-1 Lightning, but it’s worth wondering if there were any celebratory happenings last night that might impact the team today:
Wish we were in Tampa , but this will do. LFG @Buccaneers pic.twitter.com/WFNuZS4qB1
— Steven Stamkos (@RealStamkos91) February 8, 2021
Further, after spending much of the early part of the year on the NHL’s COVID protocol list, Curtis McElhinney is expected to get his first start of the year. This will represent his first game since March 8, 2020, exactly 11 months ago. It’s probably reasonable to expect just a tiny bit of rust.
The good news for Tampa Bay is that, even with a weaker lineup dressed on paper, the Predators are going through some struggles of their own. Sitting at 5-6-0 in the standings, they’ve won just one of their last four games, with two of those losses being at the hands of these very same Lightning. Compounding the issues for Nashville is news that Ryan Johansen will be spending time on injured reserve, listed as week-to-week with an upper-body injury.
Regardless, following yesterday’s emotional high experienced by anyone who is even tangentially connected to the Tampa sports scene, it’s tough to know what to expect from the Lightning tonight. The task before them is the same as it is on any other given night, but Monday after a hometown Super Bowl win leaves a lot of question marks.
As always, thanks for reading.