Kraken vs. Lightning PREVIEW

The Need To Knows

• The Time: 7pm PT
• The Place: Climate Pledge Arena, Seattle, Washington
• Place to Watch: ROOT Northwest, ESPN+/Sportsnet+
• Place to Listen: KJR 93.3 FM
• An Opposing Viewpoint: Raw Charge

Know Your Enemy

• The Lightning are 12-11-5 and are 5th in the Atlantic Division, with 29 points
• Their leading goalscorer? Nikita Kucherov, who has come alive in the winter with 44 points in 27 games, and has 17 goals. Frankly there’s not a category he doesn’t lead in right now.
• In theory, the leading goaltender for the Lightning this year has been Jonas Johansson, who has started the lions share of games. Vasilevskiy is back, but he’s being played less thanks to injury. No Lightning goaltender has a SV% over .900

Game Notes

So! How’s your weekend going?

The Kraken are on a six game losing streak. That sucks.

Mercifully, the Lightning are going through it as well. Maybe not nearly to the extent of the Kraken, but they’re still trying to figure themselves out. They’re 4-5-0 in their last 10 and a big issue they’ve faced, for once in their life, their goaltending and holding leads. That means that a unique opportunity to win a game is possible for Seattle. In theory.

They still have to put up with a lot of power coming at them at once…but they can still win this if they attack the defense and use their cycle game to wear the Bolts down. This is a squad that’s older, breaking down, and cannot trust their goalies. There is a win here, they just have to pull it out of them.

LET’S GO KRAKEN!

(sorry about the late preview)