On the heels of back-to-back losses that took place earlier in the week, the Tampa Bay Lightning will take to the ice in less than an hour for a date with the Edmonton Oilers.
While many may look at the Oilers’s record and scoff, it should be noted that the team from the heart of Alberta still has the ability to play spoiler; look no further than their 3-2 win over the Bolts back on October 20th as evidence of that. This Oilers team, now coached by Todd Nelson, has talented pieces at its disposal. Tampa would be foolish to look past this game.
Leading the way for Edmonton this year is a trio of former first round draft picks. Taylor Hall, Jordan Eberle, and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins lead the team in scoring with 28, 27, and 25 points respectably. While those totals don’t exactly jump off the page or wow you, they are solid enough and noteworthy as result. Further, nobody can deny that the offensive talent laden throughout that Edmonton roster is more potent that the numbers would suggest.
Along with those three, the Oilers bring with them two former Lightning players. Teddy Purcell and Benoit Pouliot will both be returning to Amalie Arena. Pouliot, who spent the 2012-13 campaign with the Lightning, made it all the way to the Stanley Cup Final with the New York Rangers last year before signing with the Oilers in the summer. Purcell, meanwhile, was dealt to the Oilers during the last offseason.
One other Oiler to watch tonight is Jeff Petry. The subject of many trade rumors, Petry might be a fit for the Bolts should Steve Yzerman elect to make a move. He's a generally steady right-handed defender with plenty of NHL experience. His underlying numbers are solid as well. If I were Yzerman, I'd have my eyes on Edmonton's number-two this evening.
To combat the plethora of youth that defines the Edmonton lineup, Lightning head coach Jon Cooper will rely on his own trio of youngsters. While there was some speculation that Tyler Johnson would miss tonight’s game with an undisclosed lower body injury, it appears that he is good to go as he is currently taking part in warm-up line rushes. That means the triplets will be reunited. The lines, per Erik Erlendsson of the Tampa Tribune, look like this:
Alex Killorn-Vladislav Namestnikov-Steven Stamkos Ondrej Palat-Tyler Johnson-Nikita Kucherov Cedric Paquette-Valtteri Filppula-Ryan Callahan Brett Connolly-Brian Boyle-J.T. Brown
Nikita Nesterov-Anton Stralman Mark Barberio-Jason Garrison Matt Carle-Andrej Sustr
Ben Bishop Evgeni Nabokov
Victor Hedman, of course, remains out with a lower body injury of his own. The scratches for tonight’s game, again courtesy of Erlendsson, are Jonathan Drouin and Brenden Morrow. It’s perhaps a little bit surprising to see Drouin take a seat in the press box, as he had been doing a lot of good things over the last few weeks. The scratching of Morrow, on the other hand, is about 40 games late.
Because game time is approaching quickly, I’m going to end things here. Here’s hoping we see a great game between two teams that can really fly.
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.