Tampa BAE Lightning Game 5 Preview: On to Motown
Playing the suddenly hot Red Wings, what could go wrong?
The Tampa Bay Lightning are committed to ruining my weekend back on the road taking on the Detroit Red Wings tonight at 7 p.m.
This will be the first match up for the Bolts against the Wings this season. The Red Wings had a disastrous first game against the Montreal Canadiens losing 5-1 which got them booed off their own ice. Yikes.
Since then, they have been ridiculous. They have won three in a row (twice against Toronto, once against Florida). In those three games, the Wings have scored 13 goals while only surrendering six. One of the strengths of their game has been their strong goal tender play. After John Gibson got lit up in Game 1, the Red Wings have turned to Cam Talbot who has been pretty solid for them in net. He currently has a 1.78 GAA and .932 SV%. Very, very good stuff from him.
Thankfully, the Red Wings are also playing back-to-back as they face the Oilers tomorrow. With that, they are icing Gibson tonight and Talbot tomorrow. John Gibson’s record vs the Tampa Bay Lightning is 4-5-1. It’s not super great. Do I think his defense will let him get lit up like he did against Montreal? Probably not, but you never know.
On the other end of the ice, Vasy will take the net for the Bolts as Jojo will likely play tomorrow vs Columbus. Vasy’s record against the Red Wings is 16-5-1. That’s impressive, but maybe a little fraudulent for our purposes. The six losses have all come within the last three years. If you look at his record since that first loss, he’s 3-5-1 much less impressive.
So, what to expect? Honestly, I think the Bolts have a good chance of losing this game. The Red Wings are playing well against the other top teams in the division. Vasy’s magic against the Wings appears to be waning. The Lightning defense is standing upright on their skates all by themselves. And Nikita Kucherov has two Goals, one Assist and is a -8 on the season. Did I miss anything?
I won’t be able to watch tonight, but maybe you will, and for that I am sorry in advance.
You’re bad until you’re not. Prove me wrong, Lightning.