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Tampa BAE Lightning Game 24: Lunch time in Motor City

Get your leftover sandwiches ready and enjoy some hockey

Author
Collin Sherwin
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    The Tampa Bay Lightning are back on the road for a three game road trip that kicks off today at noon versus the Detroit Red Wings.

    This is the second regular season meeting between the Bolts and Wings with Detroit winning the first game 2-1 in OT back on October 17th. The Wings handed the Bolts the second of a four game losing streak that saw their fans become increasingly frustrated with their on ice performance.

    Since that game, the Lightning are 13-4-0 and riding a five game winning streak. That’s ridiculously good.

    On the other end, we find the Detroit Red Wings. Since Oct 17th the Wings are 9-9-1 and currently riding a two game losing streak. Not bad, but definitely not the same team we saw get off to a red hot start this season.

    For today’s game, I have three pressing questions that will really dictate how this all goes:

    1. Who is playing goalie for the Red Wings?Detroit brought in John Gibson in the offseason to help address their needs at goal tender, but things haven’t gone great. In 12 games played, he has four wins, a GAA of 3.46, and a .870 SV %. His last win was a month ago. But Cam Talbot hasn’t been much better. His GAA is 2.97 and SV% .887. He is also riding the two game losing streak. Gibson has the better career numbers vs Tampa Bay, but is that enough to get him the nod?
    2. Who is on the Bolts game roster?The Lightning called up and then sent back down Max Groshev on defense. That is puzzling especially since Cernak is going to miss some time, McDonagh hasn’t even started skating, and Hedman is still on LTIR. The most likely candidate seems like Crozier, but I feel like you give Groshev a chance on D, too. Is there that much of a difference between the two? And will Point play? There’s a lot more questions than answers right now for the Lightning line up card.
    3. Which team will wake up first?A noon puck drop the day after Thanksgiving is about as sleepy of a game as you can get. Both teams are at a high risk of sleep walking their way through this. The first one to show major signs of life is likely to run away with it.

    It’s going to be an interesting one that’s for sure. Stack up your stuffing sandwiches and enjoy the game. Go Bolts!