Last year’s Presidents’ Trophy winners are still looking to wash the bad taste out of their mouths. The white-hot Lightning seemed invincible…until they ran into a feisty Columbus squad in the first round of the 2019 playoffs.
Tampa Bay Lightning
The Lightning scored the game-winning goal against Pittsburgh in the final seconds of their game on Wednesday evening. They have had a few days off to rest and will be ready to go tonight.
Steven Stamkos leads the Lightning in points with 10 (4 goals, 6 assists). Nikita Kucherov has 9 points (3 goals, 6 assists), and perennial Norris Trophy contender Victor Hedman has 8 points (2 goals, 6 assists). Offseason signing Kevin Shattenkirk has been an offensive catalyst for the Lightning, posting 4 goals and 3 assists over 9 games.
Last season’s Vezina Trophy winner Andrei Vasilevskiy has played in 7 games and is 5-2 with a .907 Sv%. Backup Curtis McElhinney has looked solid in his two starts, posting two wins and a .909 Sv%.
On Wednesday, the Lightning hosted 46 Medal of Honor recipients. A video of the ceremony is below. Please take a few minutes to watch the Penguins and Lightning honor these heroes:
Nashville Predators
The Predators blanked the Minnesota Wild on Thursday night. Goals from Colton Sissons, Miikka Salomäki, Calle Järnkrok, and Craig Smith sealed the deal for Nashville. Craig Smith appeared quite relieved and celebrated accordingly.
Matt Duchene did not play in the third period of Thursday’s game. There is no update on his health status at this time. Filip Forsberg remains day-to-day with his lower-body injury. Yannick Weber was a healthy scratch on Thursday, yielding time to Matt Irwin.
Pekka Rinne posted a beautiful shutout on Thursday. He’s been “feeling it lately” (his words), so the coaching staff might ride the hot hand of Rinne tonight in Tampa Bay.
Memories and Feelings
Reasons to Watch
- S-A-T-U-R-D-A-Y night!
- The Lightning are one of my favorite teams to watch.
- More trolling from Pat Maroon? He seemed to flash his Stanley Cup ring at the Preds bench during preseason action. (A gesture representing the ring, not the ring itself. That massive ring would be ridiculous to wear inside a glove.) /
Tonight’s Drink of Choice
Lagavulin – Offerman Edition.
Tonight’s Theme Song
How to Watch
Tonight’s puck drop is at 6:00 Central. FS-TN will have the broadcast and 102.5 The Game has the radio call.