The Tampa Bay Lightning are back home after Tuesday’s disappointing 1-0 loss in Columbus. Tonight, they’ll turn their attention to the Ottawa Senators for the first of five times this season. Tampa heads into this evening’s contest dealing with a bushel of inconsistency issues, evidenced by the team’s 4-5-1 record in its last 10 games. Even so, the team still sits fifth in the Eastern Conference, comfortably within the playoff picture.
Without Steven Stamkos, who is still sidelined as he rehabs from a broken tibia, it’s been a struggle for the Bolts. Offensively, guys simply aren’t getting the job done. The 1-0 loss against a Columbus team that had no business winning really sums up the frustration every member of Bolts Nation has been dealing with since 91 went down. With that in mind, head coach Jon Cooper shuffled things up in a big way at practice yesterday. Per Erik Erlendsson of the Tampa Tribune, Cooper played around with the following forward line combinations:
Palat-Johnson-St. Louis Purcell-Thompson-Brown Killorn-Filppula-Kucherov Crombeen-Tyrell-Panik
Given the struggles that some of the Lightning’s bigger names have experienced in recent games, it’s hard not to like what Cooper has drawn up. Separating the trio of Purcell, Filppula, and St. Louis should be a good thing for Tampa, as all three individuals are pass-first players. The Filppula, Killorn, Kucherov line, in particular, is very interesting as it gives Filppula two wingers who can and do shoot the puck with regularity. Kucherov’s electric offensive abilities, Killorn’s simple two-way game, and Filppula’s unbelievable vision could combine to produce results for the Lightning on Thursday against the Senators.
The lineup above also highlights the fact that Tampa is still dealing with a plethora of injuries. In addition to Stamkos, PC Labrie, Ryan Malone and Tom Pyatt continue to sit on the sidelines with issues. On defense, Radko Gudas is expected to miss today’s contest along with Eric Brewer. To combat the injuries on defense, the organization recalled Matt Taormina from Syracuse on Wednesday. No word yet as to whether or not he’ll be in the lineup against the Senators.
While nothing has been formally announced as of the time of writing, it’s hard to envision the Lightning not going with Ben Bishop between the pipes. Against a Senators team that is scoring at a rate of 2.93 goals per game (compared to 2.70 for the Lightning), goaltending could be very important. As good as Anders Lindback has looked recently, Bishop gives the team a better chance to win right now. You can bet that he’ll be fired up to play against his former team.
Picked by many to be an upper echelon team in the Eastern Conference this year, the Senators have really struggled. Their 11-13-4 record doesn’t begin to describe the consistency issues that have plagued the team from Canada’s capital. From game to game, the Senators often resemble Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. A lot of that could perhaps be attributed to the unusually weak play of goaltender Craig Anderson. Once thought of as a potential tender for Team USA in Sochi, Anderson has all but played himself out of the discussion. His 3.42 goals-against average and 0.897 save percentage have paved the way for Robin Lehner to take over the starting job.
Even so, the Sens do boast a number of weapons that can hurt opposing teams on the scoreboard. Clarke MacArthur, especially, has been a very nice story for Ottawa. His 22 points through 27 games this season eclipse his 20 point total from all of last year. Combine his production with that of Erik Karlsson and Bobby Ryan, among others, and the Senators become a dangerous team to deal with.
If the Lightning can get back to basics, put pucks on net, and generate scoring opportunities on Thursday night, it’s hard not to like their chances. The Ottawa team they’re going up against has had its fair share of defensive struggles this season. Taking advantage of that on home ice, where the Bolts are an impressive 10-3-0, should be the number one priority for Jon Cooper’s team. After what can only be described as a crushing loss against the Blue Jackets, Tampa should be itching to rebound with a big win.
As always, thanks for reading.