The Tampa Bay Lightning will take to the ice tonight at the Forum for what is arguably the biggest game of their season. The Montreal Canadiens are in town for a divisional battle that will ultimately help to determine which of the two teams gets home ice advantage in round one of the playoffs. Montreal currently has a two point lead, but the Lightning have one game in hand. The stakes are high.
This is the last of four meetings between the Atlantic Division rivals this year. Each of the previous three games have extended past regulation time, and each has ended with a 2-1 final score via either overtime of the shootout. The Bolts have won both games at the Bell Centre, while Montreal has won the only game at the Tampa Bay Times Forum so far.
Tonight could be a very important evening for the Lightning in another way. If the Lightning beat the Canadiens, the Capitals lose to the Stars in regulation, and the Devils lose to the Sabres, the Bolts will clinch a playoff spot for the first time since 2011. For a team that nobody expected much of, this Lightning group has been fantastic.
After playing in back-to-backs this past weekend, Ben Bishop will once again get the start in net for the Lightning. Despite the fact that his play has severely regressed since the Olympic break, Bishop still boasts top-ten stats in nearly every single goalie category. His 0.926 save percentage is still something special. That should tell you just how amazing he was prior to the break.
To counter, expect that Montreal will send out Carey Price to tend goal in such a pivotal game. He last played (and won) last Saturday in Florida, so you know that he’ll be rested and ready for one of his team’s most important contests of the year. When Price is on his game, every team in the league has trouble putting pucks past him.
While not necessarily a game story, I’m particularly interested to see how two of the trade deadline’s bigger acquisitions look in a head-to-head matchup. Lightning fans are familiar with the work of newcomer Ryan Callahan, who has compiled five goals and nine points in 13 games with Tampa, but they may not be familiar with just how good Thomas Vanek has been over the last handful of games for Montreal. The powerful Austrian is currently on a three game point streak in which he has notched six (!) points. Not half bad for a guy who was basically acquired for nothing at the deadline.
For those of you who like to see lineups, here are today’s line rushes courtesy of Erik Erlendsson from the Tampa Tribune:
Lines this morning: Brown-Stamkos-Purcell; Palat-Filppula-Callahan; Killorn-Johnson-Kucherov; Malone-Thompson-Panik; Pyatt-Kunyk-Crombeen
— Erik Erlendsson (@erlendssonTBO) April 1, 2014I could write five hundred more words about just how important tonight’s game is. Those words wouldn’t do this matchup justice. The Lightning are set to play a very formidable opponent tonight in what looks like a first round playoff preview. Emotions will be high, the building will be rockin’, and there’s a ton at stake. This game has the makings of a classic.
One final note - The Lightning just announced that they have signed forward Adam Erne. He was the team's second round draft pick in the 2013 draft.
As always, thanks for reading.