Jan 9, 2025; Tampa, Florida, USA; Tampa Bay Lightning center Brayden Point (21) skates with the puck against the Boston Bruins during the first period at Amalie Arena. The Lightning will reunite with the Boston Bruins on Saturday night, this time at TD Garden in Boston. The two teams faced off at Amalie Arena just one week ago when the Bruins shutout the Lightning 4-0 in an uncharacteristic home loss.
After selling off a number of veterans during the March 7th trade deadline, which included their former captain Brad Marchand, the Bruins have earned wins against both the Lightning (4-0) and the Panthers (3-2) before dropping a game to the Ottawa Senators (6-3).
On Thursday night in Philadelphia, the Lightning struggled with generating shots against the Flyers, forcing them to play into overtime.
“We didn’t have a lot of zone time, especially in the first two periods,” Brayden Point said after the game. “I think we had seven shots in each period, so that’s not what we wanted. We’ve got to be better than that.”
Tampa Bay will look to get back to a more detail-focused game, a mentality that has helped them find success throughout the season and propelled them into the month of March.
“In the end, we left a lot of plays on the table,” Lightning coach Jon Cooper said after the game on Thursday. “Ultimately, you do that when the game’s in the balance, that’s what happened. We lost the extra point.”
A win in Boston on Saturday would put the Lightning back in the direction they want to go in after three-straight losses. They’re still locked into the third place spot, in what has become a competitive Atlantic Division playoff race. Puck drop is at 7pm.
Here’s a look at the lines from Friday’s practice:
Forwards
Jake Guentzel - Brayden Point - Yanni Gourde
Brandon Hagel - Anthony Cirelli - Nikita Kucherov
Oliver Bjorkstrand - Nick Paul - Gage Goncalves
Zemgus Girgensons - Luke Glendening - Mitchell Chaffee
Defensemen
Victor Hedman - JJ Moser
Ryan McDonagh - Erik Cernak
Emil Lilleberg - Nick Perbix
Darren Raddysh
Goaltender
Andrei Vasilevskiy