The San Jose Sharks and Tampa Bay Lightning conclude their season series tonight at the SAP Center. The Lightning are in the midst of a six-game road trip, and the Sharks will play yet again on back-to-back nights.
Lightning Recharging on the Road
The Lightning visit San Jose for their third match in a six-game road trip. The Bolts picked up three of four points so far, with an overtime loss to the Anaheim Ducks on Tuesday before heading north to face the Sharks. Valtteri Filppula is the hot hand for Tampa Bay right now, with a goal and four assists in his last five games.
The rebounding road record could not have come at a better time. The Bolts are three points back of the Ottawa Senators for the final Wild Card spot.
Goaltending has not been what the Bolts were expecting coming into the year. Ben Bishop and Andrei Vasilevskiy combined are allowing 2.89 goals per game, and both netminders are struggling in high and medium danger save-percentage.
Tampa Bay could be without Victor Hedman again tonight. The Lightning’s top defenseman missed the last two games due to illness.
With Victor Hedman not skating this morning, could miss third straight game w illness. We'll see #tblightning
— Joe Smith (@JoeSmithNHL) January 19, 2017
Sharks Return to Winning Ways
San Jose beat the Los Angeles Kings last night 3-2 in the final regular-season matchup between the California rivals to take the season series.
Brent Burns and Tommy Wingels scored in the first period, and Joe Pavelski potted what would be the game-winning goal in the second. Martin Jones shut down the Kings the rest of the way and stopped 22 shots en route to the victory.
The Sharks bottom-six forwards continue to contribute despite a rotating cast. Micheal Haley’s saucer pass to Tommy Wingels got the versatile forward his fifth goal of the season. Outside of a 4-0 loss against the St. Louis Blues, the Sharks bottom lines have added eight goals in their last six games.
How to execute a perfect 2-on-1, by Micheal Haley and Tommy Wingels.#SJSharks pic.twitter.com/eSfS29aQXP
— San Jose Sharks (@SanJoseSharks) January 19, 2017
Tampa Bay Lightning at San Jose Sharks
SAP Center – 7:30 p.m. PST
Broadcast channels – SUN, CSN-CA
Radio: Sharks Radio Network
2016-17 Season Series:
November 12, 2016: Sharks 3 – Lightning 1
San Jose Sharks – 27-16-2 (56 Points)
Home Record: 15-6-1
Hot Players: Brent Burns, Martin Jones
Key Injuries: Tomas Hertl, Joonas Donskoi, Dylan DeMelo
Projected Lines:
Forwards:
Patrick Marleau – Joe Thornton – Joe Pavelski
Mikkel Boedker – Logan Couture – Kevin Labanc
Timo Meier – Chris Tierney – Joel Ward
Micheal Haley – Tommy Wingels – Melker Karlsson
Defense:
Paul Martin – Brent Burns
Marc-Edouard Vlasic – Justin Braun
Brenden Dillon – David Schlemko
Starting Goaltender:
Aaron Dell
Tampa Bay Lightning – 21-20-5 (47 points)
Road Record: 9-12-3
Hot Players: Valtteri Filppula
Key Injuries: Ryan Callahan, Brayden Point, Steven Stamkos
Projected Lines:
Forwards
Ondrej Palat – Vladislav Namestnikov – Nikita Kucherov
Brian Boyle – Valtteri Filppula – Jonathan Drouin
Alex Killorn – Tyler Johnson – Erik Condra
Michael Bournival – Cedric Paquette – Gabriel Dumont
Defense
Victor Hedman – Anton Stralman
Nikita Nesterov – Jason Garrison
Braydon Coburn – Andrej Sustr
Starting Goaltender
Andrei Vasilevskiy
Game Notes
[miptheme_dropcap style=”normal” color=”#222222″ background=””]1)[/miptheme_dropcap]Brent Burns continues his Norris and Hart Trophy chase. The finely bearded defenseman has 19 goals and leads the Sharks in that category as well as assists. His 175 shots on goal lead the NHL, five more than Alex Ovechkin.
Per @EliasSports, Brent Burns first defenseman to have at least 19 goals in team's first 45 games since Paul Coffey (EDM) had 22 in 1985-86
— Darin Stephens (@SharksStats) January 19, 2017
[miptheme_dropcap style=”normal” color=”#222222″ background=””]2)[/miptheme_dropcap]The Lightning have lost 11 of their 13 road games since Nov. 20, going 2-8-3 over that stretch.
[miptheme_dropcap style=”normal” color=”#222222″ background=””]3)[/miptheme_dropcap]Nikita Kucherov leads the Lightning in goals (17) and points (41) in 39 games played. He has a goal and an assist in his last five contests.
[miptheme_dropcap style=”normal” color=”#222222″ background=””]4)[/miptheme_dropcap]The Sharks have a 18-15-2-2 all-time record against Tampa Bay. The Lightning and the Sharks have split their two-game regular season series each of the last two seasons.
