John Tortorella is back in town tonight, as his Vancouver Canucks are set to take on the Tampa Bay Lightning at the Tampa Bay Times Forum. Having won two straight games for the first time in what seems like an eternity, the Bolts will look to make it three in a row against a squad coached by a former friend.
While Tortorella has coached against Tampa numerous times since leaving the Lightning, this time it’s different. The Lightning are set to celebrate the 10-year anniversary of the team’s 2004 Stanley Cup win. A huge contingent of members from that team is expected to be in attendance. Like him or not, Tortorella was a big part of this franchise’s greatest moment. It will be nice to have him on hand for the celebration.
When Sun Sports started plugging tonight’s event a couple weeks ago, they really liked to mention the fact that “John Tortorella’s Canucks… would be in town. I wasn't sure he'd make it to tonight without being fired.
Earlier this month, the Canucks dropped a 6-1 decision to the Dallas Stars and followed it up a few days later by dropping a 7-4 decision to the New York Islanders. To use a term coined by Nucker, a frequent poster in Carol Schram’s thread, #TankNation was out in full force.
Tortorella survived. Since allowing seven goals in that third period against the Islanders, Vancouver has sort of righted the ship. With wins against Winnipeg and Florida sandwiching a tight loss to the Capitals, the Canucks are playing just well enough to mess up their draft pick position. The playoffs are still a long shot, but the team is at least looking competitive.
Tonight’s game provides Vancouver with a different challenge. They’re on the second half of a back-to-back stretch and they’re set to play a very good Lightning team. This is the first time the Canucks have seen a playoff team in a over a week.
Tampa has already played and beaten the Canucks once this season, and that was without a guy named Steven Stamkos in the lineup. In that game, Vancouver wasn’t able to match or compete with Tampa’s blinding speed. Facing a tired Canucks team relying on an overworked goalie for the second straight game, the Bolts have a huge opportunity to grab two points tonight.
According to Erik Erlendsson of the Tampa Tribune, Lightning head coach Jon Cooper is expected to ice the same lineup that shut out the New Jersey Devils on Saturday. That, of course, makes sense. The team played a very good game against the Devils, and it showed on the scoreboard. Goaltender Ben Bishop secured his 31st win of the season, setting a franchise record for wins in a single year, and the skaters in front of him clawed out a relatively clean 3-0 win.
For those of you who are interested, here are the projected lines:
Killorn-Stamkos-Johnson Palat-Filppula-Callahan Brown-Pyatt-Purcell Malone-Thompson-Crombeen
Hedman-Salo Carle-Gudas Brewer-Kostka
Bishop Lindback
While this is effectively a must-win for the Canucks, unless you’re a member of Nucker’s #TankNation, the Lightning would love to grab a third straight victory. A win tonight would move the team back into one of the Atlantic Division’s top three seeds, and give the players another jolt of confidence as they prepare for the home stretch. If the Bolts can use their speed to their advantage, this is a very winnable game.
Enjoy the festivities tonight.
As always, thanks for reading.