The Need to Knows
- Time: 3:00 pm PT
- Place: Amalie Arena in Tampa, FL
- Where to Watch: KHN, KONG, FDSN SUN, ESPN+
- Where to Listen: Kraken Audio Network on 93.3 KJR
Know Your Enemy
Not all of Tampa Bay’s 4 Nations tournament representatives are returning to the Sunshine State bedecked with gold medals. Head coach John Cooper and fellow Canadians Brandon Hagel, Brayden Point, and Anthony Cirelli will. Swedish defenseman Victor Hedman and American forward Jake Guentzel won’t, try as they did. Success awaits their arrival at Amalie Arena anyways. Riding four-straight wins and 6-3-1 over their last ten, the Lightning were on a roll before the break and they’ll seek to pick up that pace once again.
All of the Lightning’s 4 Nations participants are expected to play Sunday according to the Tampa Bay Times, even if Hedman was the only one who practiced with the team Saturday. So, the roster that scored at least four goals in each of their last four games, holds a third-best +20 goal differential in the first period, and sits 12th in shot quality share (51.27%) and fifth in goals share (54.75%) at five-on-five will oppose Seattle at full strength. Tampa Bay’s power play is stronger on the road– converting on 32% (1st) of opportunities away versus 22.2% (15th) at home– but compared to a Kraken penalty kill ranked 22nd in the league the difference is insignificant.
Tampa Bay recalled goalie Matt Tomkins from the Syracuse Crunch on Saturday, making it unlikely Jonas Johansson returns from injury to round out the Lightning tandem. Andrei Vasilevskiy started six-straight games leading into the 4 Nations break, and would be plenty rested should he start on Sunday. He posted a 5-0-1 record including a shutout and averaged a .935 SV% in that span.
Game Preview
Having missed the last 40 games due to a pelvic injury requiring surgery, captain Jordan Eberle was bound to be eased back into game action upon his return. Accordingly, Eberle played with the fourth line on Saturday in Seattle’s 2-1 win over the Florida Panthers, recording two shots in 14:03. He didn’t appear hindered in any way, reinforced by the sight of his flinging a signature backhander on Sergei Bobrovsky late in the first period. Ryker Evans also returned to the lineup after missing five games.
With Philipp Grubauer still in Coachella Valley as of writing and Joey Daccord taking the first game of the back-to-back, the door’s open for Aleš Stezka to start his first career NHL game in Tampa.