Fierce Goalies gear up as Tampa Bay Lightning and Carolina Hurricanes meet -NHL Match Preview
The Tampa Bay Lightning and Carolina Hurricanes are all set to improve their records and move on into the higher ranks of the National Hockey League (NHL) as both teams meet on Tuesday night, November 1, 2011, at the RBC Center in Raleigh, North Carolina,
United States.
Carolina will obviously have the home advantage on Tuesday’s matchup, which is certainly a helpful factor, but has not been as determining in victory through the 2011-2012 NHL regular season thus far.
Teams which have not see the likes of home have managed to win multiple away games, which certainly sets the standard bar much higher than what was thought to be during the past seasons.
Tampa Bay, a team which amazingly worked hard and made it into the 2011 NHL Eastern Conference Finals last season and barely lost against the Boston Bruins in game-seven, currently boasts a disappointing record of 5-4-2, putting it in eighth place in the
Eastern Division.
"The coach, the players, everyone was in experimental mode", Lightning coach Guy Boucher said of the struggles to start the season. "Where as now, we know what we want and we're running with it".
The Lightning might not be having to best output from their veteran goalie, Dwayne Roloson, seeing how he allowed five goals on 17 shots to lose the match, 5-3, against the Nashville Predators on Thursday, October 27, 2011, but he certainly does get the
job done when needed.
Mathieu Garon is defending the Tampa Bay net in a big way, giving his teammates confidence to strive more and not worry about the situation in the back.
"We have two really good goaltenders", Tampa Bay Lightning defenseman, Victor Hedman, said. "It feels secure for us to have those two guys back there".
Tampa Bay captain, Vincent Lecavalier, has finally begun to score goals and take charge of the team by leading them to victory with his only goal of the match against the Winnipeg Jets as the Lightning shut them out, 1-0, on Saturday, October 29.
In the past six matchups, Lecavalier has six points which consist of four goals alone. Steven Stamkos is also playing top-notch for the team by having seven points in the last six and hoping to have even a better season this time, the young forward wants
to continue his scoring streak.
Going against the Lightning, Carolina Hurricanes coach, Paul Maurice, knows that his team cannot risk taking any chances throughout the match and will have to go in with a pre-planned strategy to win.
"They have enough offense that if you make those mistakes in the third, they are going to bring it", Hurricanes coach Paul Maurice said.
Tampa Bay is missing Mattias Ohlund, due to a knee surgery and does not have a date set for his specific return, resulting on the team putting him on their injured reserve. Ryan Malone is still under observation due to an upper body injury and is also out
indefinitely.
Other than, Zac Dalpe, who is out due to a lower body injur, Carolina has a healthy roster along with one of the top goalies in the league, Cam Ward, who will certainly facing a tough time with his powered up counterpart.
Tuesday’s matchup between Carolina Hurricanes and Tampa Bay Lightning is a must see, which will begin at 7:00 PM ET.
Tags: