Raw Charge
Summary
Time: 7:00 PM EST Location: Nationwide Arena, Columbus TV/Stream/Radio: The Spot, WWHO, CBJHN, CBJNHL, ESPN+, 102.5 The Bone Odds: Lightning -115 Know the Opponents: The Cannon All things considered, the Tampa Bay Lightning played a fairly decent game on Wednesday night. Sure there was a little stretch at the end of the second period and into the start of the third where they sputtered defensively, but they were able to keep their lead and expand on it thanks mostly to Nikita Kucherov doing Nikita Kucherov things. With that kind of offensive output, one would think that a game against the Columbus Blue Jackets would be a mere formality, a chance for an easy two points and fun flight back to Tampa. Unfortunately, hockey doesn’t exist in a vacuum, and despite their difference in standings, the two teams will likely have a pretty close contest tonight. This is a survive and move on game. The Lightning shouldn’t look to dominate, they just need to find a way to pick up the win and head home. It looks like they’ll be down a defenseman after Erik Cernak left Wednesday’s game after being checked into the stanchion at the end of the bench by Beck Malenstyn. Expect Max Crozier or Emil Lilleberg to re-enter the line-up in his absence. Another player to keep an eye on is Anthony Cirelli, who had three assists in the game, but also didn’t play the final five minutes. The Lightning center took an awkward hit early in the game, but came back to play. It is possible, that it was a coach’s decision to keep him out considering the score at the time he left, but if he can’t go, the Lightning probably go back to an 11/7 rotation. Would they give Sam O’Reilly a little more ice time if Cirelli is out? The rookie had a solid debut, picking up an assist in 12:56 of ice time, which included 2:41 of power play time. He didn’t record a shot attempt, but was credited with two hits and one blocked shot while winning 3-of-10 face-offs. While he only had the one point, he was on the ice for four of the Lightning’s goals. Not a bad way to start his career. Columbus hasn’t had the best of seasons so far. A year in which they were hoping to take a step forward started under a bit of a cloud with the Zach Werenski trade situation. That segued into them dealing Kirill Marchenko for Matthew Knies and it’s been kind of a stumble since then. Looking at the line-up and one would think they should be better than last place in the Eastern Conference, yet a 1-5-0 performance on the road has anchored them to the bottom of the conference. They have been solid defensively, holding teams to just 1.85 GA/60 at 5v5 on home ice, but the offense has been a bit middle of the road, scoring just 2.34 GF/60 in Nationwide Arena (That’s cool. The less the cannon goes off, the better). Coming into tonight’s contest rested and riding a two-game losing streak, expect them to try and jump the Lightning right out of the gate. If the Bolts can survive that onrush, they should be able to stay competitive. Forwards: Brandon Hagel Jake Guentzel Nikita Kucherov Pontus Holmberg Zemgus Girgensons Ilya Mikheyev Conor Geekie Sam O’Reilly Gage Goncalves Jeff Viel Scott Sabourin Defense: Victor Hedman J.J. Moser Ryan McDonagh Max Crozier Charle-Edouard D’Astous John Carlson Emil Lilleberg Goaltenders: Dennis Hildeby Andrei Vasilevskiy Columbus Blue Jackers Forwards: Matthew Knies Adam Fantelli Kent Johnson Dmitri Voronkov Sean Monahan Valeri Nichushkin Cole Sillinger Charlie Coyle Mathieu Olivier Ryan Lomberg Jack Williams Steven Lorentz Defense: Zach Werenski Damon Severson Ivan Provorev Denton Mateychuk Dante Fabbro Erik Gudbranson Goaltenders: Jet Greaves Cam Talbot