The Tampa Bay Lightning take on the Edmonton Oilers on Monday night at 9 p.m. EST. The Lightning will look to gain some important points in the playoff race. The Oilers are just looking to get back on track and string a few wins together to try to get back in playoff contention, which is going to take a lot of work.
Here are three things to watch for in tonight's matchup:
1.) CONNOR MCDAVID
The Lightning will need to figure out a way to stop McDavid, and that hasn't been an easy task for most of the NHL this year. McDavid can go from zero to sixty in seconds, and his speed through the neutral zone makes it difficult for the opposition to defend against. He has playmaking abilities and can finish. The best way to defend against someone like McDavid is to just establish the forecheck early and have a ton of sustained offensive zone time with a lot of scoring changes. The Lightning are going to need to win the battles to the loose pucks and just know where he is at all times on the ice.
2.) GOALTENDING
Cam Talbot is going to have to be better than he has been all season long. The Lightning are going to have prime scoring chances and Talbot will need to make some saves if the Oilers want to have a chance to win the game. Talbot is going to need to make the easy saves and the difficult ones. Andrei Vasilevskiy has been great all season long in net and that will need to continue tonight. Vasilevskiy has been putting up Vezina like numbers all season, but still needs to make some saves tonight and get the job done.
3.) LIGHTNING PP VS. EDMONTON PK
The Bolts have had one of the best power plays all season long and they will go against the Oilers penalty kill, which has been awful at home all season. The Lightning have 42 power play goals in 181 opportunities this year, and have only given up two short handed goals against. The Oilers have been short handed 159 times this year and have given up 45 power play goals against, but have score seven short handed goals. Edmonton has been god awful on the penalty kill at home by only killing 55.8% of penalties taken, which is good for last in the Leag
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