When: Thursday, December 21 @ 7 pm EST
Where: AMALIE Arena - Tampa, FL
Radio coverage: 102.5 The Bone, Lightning Radio
Where to stream: BallySports.com
Lines from Wednesday's practice (these could change)
Forwards
Nick Paul - Brayden Point - Nikita Kucherov
Brandon Hagel - Anthony Cirelli - Steven Stamkos
Conor Sheary - Tyler Motte - Mikey Eyssimont
Conor Sheary - Tyler Motte - Alex Barre-Boulet
Defensemen
Victor Hedman - Erik Cernak
Mikhail Sergachev - Nick Perbix
Haydn Fleury - Darren Raddysh
Goaltenders
Andrei Vasilevskiy
Tonight will be a big matchup for the Lightning, giving them a realistic idea of where they stand up against the best team in the league.
Vegas is having another strong season, allowing just 2.06 goals per game at 5v5. This is going to be a challenge for the Lightning who have somewhat struggled to maintain consistent offensive play at times. We did see them succeed offensively against the Blues on Tuesday night, so they’ll need to keep building on that.
The Lightning will be without defenseman Mikhail Sergachev, who is listed as day-to-day with a lower body injury after blocking a shot. Jon Cooper expects he’ll be out for a game or two.
On the other side of the game, Vegas is dealing with injuries of their own. Starting goaltender Adin Hill, who has suffered multiple injury setbacks recently made his return on December 18th but exited early again. Logan Thompson took over in that game, but then injured himself as well. He did start in the next game against Carolina, but was pulled after allowing 6 goals. Jiri Patera, who had just 3 NHL games on his resume finished the game. It looks like he may get the start tonight as well, so the Lightning will have a window of opportunity there.
This is the last game at Amalie Arena before the Christmas break. The Lightning have a chance to build a some momentum, hopefully they can capitalize on it.