The Lightning and Wild are playing the first of two matchups this season.
When: Thursday, January 4th @ 8pm EST
Where: Xcel Energy Center - St Paul, MN
Radio: 102.5 The Bone Lightning Radio 24/7
Where to stream: BallySports.com
Lines from Tuesday + Sean Day (these could change)
Forwards
Brandon Hagel - Brayden Point - Nick Paul
Steven Stamkos - Anthony Cirelli - Nikita Kucherov
Mikey Eyssimont - Tyler Motte - Alex Barre-Boulet
Tanner Jeannot - Conor Sheary - Austin Watson
Defensemen
Victor Hedman - Nick Perbix
Calvin de Haan - Darren Raddysh
Philippe Myers
Goaltenders
Andrei Vasilevskiy
The Lightning have a must-win game tonight against a couple of their former teammates. Pat Maroon who has 14 points so far in his first season with the Wild (4 goals, 10 assists) and Zach Bogosian is playing just under 16 minutes a game.
The injury bug has arrived in Tampa Bay with Erik Cernak, Mikhail Sergachev and Haydn Fleury all out. After making some roster shifts, the Lightning were able to call up help from Syracuse meaning they won’t have to rely on 13-forwards and 5-defensemen tonight. There is also a chance they go 11/7 with both Sean Day and Declan Carlilie joining the line-up.
Minnesota isn’t doing much better in the injury department, they currently have five players on IR and one on LTIR.
As we inch closer to the halfway mark of the season, it’s imperative the Lightning turn things around in order to make the playoffs. That starts with grabbing two points tonight in Minnesota.