Clash of Titans: Can the Penguins Dethrone Lightning in Electric Showdown on 4/2?
Getting to know the Lightning
Projected lines
FORWARDS
Jake Guentzel – Brayden Point – Nikita Kucherov
Gage Goncalves – Anthony Cirelli – Oliver Bjorkstrand
Zemgus Girgensons – Yanni Gourde – Pontus Holmberg
Corey Perry – Nic Paul
DEFENSEMEN
JJ Moser / Darren Raddysh
Ryan McDonagh / Erik Cernak
Charle-Edouard D’Astous / Emil Lilleberg
Steven Santini
Goalies: Andrei Vasilevskiy, Jonas Johansson
Potential scratches: Victor Hedman (away from team on personal leave), Brandon Hagel (injury, doubtful to play tonight),
Injured Reserve: Declan Carlile, Dominic James
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Somewhat breaking news in that Hagel picked up an injury in Tuesday night’s game against Montreal and, as of yesterday, looks like he will not be playing against the Pens. Add in Victor Hedman’s absence and Tampa suddenly is missing some key pieces.
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Hagel being out meant the Lightning concentrated a lot of their strength yesterday in practice on the top line with Guentzel-Point-Kucherov. Previously, Guentzel+Point were on one line and Kucherov was working on a different line with Hagel to split the talent. It looks like they are going to load all the way up for this game and probably count on that top line to do a lot of the heavy lifting in terms of scoring.
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Moser, who started out in Arizona for three seasons before coming over to Tampa in 2024, is probably one of the most under-rated or under-talked about great players in the league. Moser was involved in the trade that sent Mikhail Sergachev to Utah, which has worked out great for Tampa to send out an older star that they couldn’t afford and replace him with a younger, very capable option to take over.
Season stats
via hockeydb
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There are few things in the NHL more consistent than Jake Guentzel getting close to 40 goals and 80 points in a season with health (or right on pace, less the games whatever games missed with injury) over the past nine years and he’s back at it again this season. The 45 assists are already a single-season high and he’s closing in on his best year in points (84).
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Guentzel’s been hot lately, riding a current five-game point streak (5G+4A).
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Health has been a major storyline for Tampa, almost all their best players from Kucherov, Point, Hedman, McDonagh, Hagel, Cirelli, Raddysh and Paul have missed at least a handful of games at various times this season, and some more than a few. Luckily for them Vasilievskiy has been on his game and the waterfall of injuries still has their lineup seeing more than it’s share of talent.
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Kucherov has been going absolutely berserk lately with some downright Lemieux-esque production. Kuch has 39 points (11G+26A) in his last 20 games and is right in the thick of the Art Ross race. He’s four points behind leader Connor McDavid, despite the Tampa star playing seven less games.
Key Matchup: Tampa the…defensive juggernaut?
Tampa is stacked all over the board, they’re second in 5v5 goals, top-10 in Corsi, Fenwick and finishing metrics offensively. That and the star power is what they’re known for, but they’ve really buckled down defensively this season as well. Their PK is good, their goaltending is a lot better with Vasilievskiy than backup Johansson and they find ways to limit the amount of shots opponents take. Despite an anonymous defense that’s missed a bunch of their top blueliners at the same time, they’ve found ways to play keep-away with the puck and limit opportunities against.
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