Game 17: Ducks Look To Short-Circuit The Lightning

By Michael Walters

The Anaheim Ducks(7-6-3) continue their homestand against the Tampa Bay Lightning(13-2-2). The game starts at 5:00 PM PT and will be on Prime Ticket locally and AM 830.

Anaheim Outlook:

John Gibson returned to practice and it appears like he will start tonight. Reto Berra could be the backup since Ryan Miller did not practice yesterday after being injured in the Ducks 4-1 win over the Canucks on Thursday night. Ondrej Kase has not practiced with the team since being knocked of the game against Los Angeles. He is unlikely to play tonight.

Keys To The Game

The Ducks need to repeat their performance they had against the Lightning in their first meeting. Anaheim jumped on Tampa Bay with three goals in the second period. The Ducks were also two-for-two on the power play in the previous meeting, which will be key if the Ducks want to beat the Lightning again. The Ducks did score three power play goals against Vancouver on Thursday night.

Anaheim’s Projected Lineup:

Offense
Rickard Rakell – Derek Grant – Corey Perry
Andrew Cogliano – Chris Wagner – Jakob Silfverberg
Dennis Rasmussen – Antoine Vermette – Logan Shaw
Nick Ritchie – Kalle Kossila – Kevin Roy

Defense
Hampus Lindholm – Josh Manson
Francois Beauchemin– Brandon Montour
Sami Vatanen – Kevin Bieksa

In Net
John Gibson 5-5-1, GAA 2.97, SV% .914 (Unconfirmed)

Tampa Bay Outlook:

The Lightning have the best record in the league at 13-2-2 good for 28 points. They have been tearing it up on the score sheet by racking up four or more goals in 11 of their 17 contests. Nikita Kucherov has exploded this season for 16 goals already in 17 games. Steven Stamkos and Vladislav Namestnikov each have eight goals.

Keys To The Game

Tampa Bay has the second-best power play in the league at 27.9% efficiency. They will look to pressure on the forecheck and get Anaheim into penalty trouble. One weak area for the Lightning is in the face-off circle where they are only winning 48.1% of their draws.

Tampa Bay’s Projected Lineup:

Offense
Vladislav Namestnikov – Steven Stamkos – Nikita Kucherov
Ondrej Palat – Brayden Point – Yanni Gourde
Alex Killorn – Tyler Johnson – Gabriel Dumont
Chris Kunitz – J.T. Brown – Ryan Callahan

Defense
Victor Hedman – Jake Dotchin
Mikhail Sergachev – Anton Stralman
Braydon Coburn – Dan Girardi

In Net
Andrei Vasilevskiy, 12-1-1, GAA 2.41, SV% .928 (Confirmed)

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November 12th, 2017

Filed under: Ducks News Tagged: Anaheim Ducks, ducksnpucks, tampa bay lightning