Anaheim Ducks Daily Links: Thunderstorm Coming to Tampa

Good evening, Anaheim Ducks fans! It’s the team’s first off-day on the road, as the Ducks started this five-game trip with back-to-back games against the Nashville Predators and Washington Capitals. The Ducks have earned three of a possible four points thus far, defeating the Predators 5-2 on Thursday before taking a 3-2 shootout loss on Friday to the Capitals. After a day of travel and rest, the Ducks will return to action Sunday to face the Eastern Conference-leading Tampa Bay Lightning, who have a 33-16-5 record after a 4-2 loss to the Los Angeles Kings on Saturday.

The Lightning are one of the most dangerous offensive teams in the NHL. Their 174 goals are most in the NHL (eight more than the 166 scored by the St. Louis Blues). Steven Stamkos is one of the most-feared goal-scorers in the NHL, and his 28 goals are tied for fourth in the NHL with Joe Pavelski. But it is not Stamkos who leads the Lightning in scoring, but sophomore Tyler Johnson, who is tied for 10th in the NHL in assists (32) and is alone in 10th in scoring (51 points). His +26 is tied for second in the league with Max Pacioretty and only behind linemate Nikita Kucherov (+28).

The Lightning are one of the more complete teams in the NHL. They get great offensive production from talents like Johnson, Stamkos, and Kucherov, but the team has gotten solid goaltending. Ben Bishop has had a solid year after a third-place finish in the Vezina Trophy voting last season. He boasts a 26-9-3 record with a solid 2.37 GAA and .912 SV%. However, the Lightning have a phenom-goaltender prospect in Andrei Vasilevskiy, who is 4-1-0 with a 1.96 GAA and .934 SV% in six appearances this season.

Vasilevskiy is not their only talented young player. Ondrej Palat, another sophomore, has been terrific with Johnson and Kucherov this season. Jonathan Drouin was the 3rd overall pick in the 2013 NHL Draft and has 21 assists on the year. General manager Steve Yzerman has done a terrific job with the Lightning’s system, and the team is built well for the present and future.

This will be the first game for Nate Thompson against the Lightning since the Ducks acquired him in the offseason for 2015 4th and 7th round picks. If he enters into the lineup, Eric Brewer will also make his first appearance against the Lightning since coming over in a late November deal for a 2015 3rd round pick. Those are not the only picks Tampa Bay has, either. They hold the New York Rangers’ 2015 1st round pick from the Martin St. Louis deal.

Here are some Ducks and NHL news for the day.

Anaheim Ducks Daily Links: Thunderstorm Coming to Tampa Bay

By Jason Byun | Feb 7, 2015