Comments / New

Eastern Conference Final Game 6: Lines, gamethread and how to watch

A win tonight for the Tampa Bay Lightning means they’ll be facing off against Joe Pavelski’s Dallas Stars in the 2020 Stanley Cup Final. But Barry Trotz’ New York Islanders aren’t down for the count quite yet. The team forced tonight’s Game 6 with a 2-1 win in double overtime on Tuesday. Injuries to key players for Tampa have kept the Islanders in the series so far.

Here’s what our sister sites have to say about tonight’s game:

From SB Nation’s Raw Charge:

While Brayden Point’s absence was definitely not the reason the Lightning lost Game 5, it is concerning that the team’s two losses in this series have come without him in the lineup. The Islanders have found ways to tighten up defensively and stymie the Lightning since the series began. Tampa Bay is going to have to dig a lot deeper to find other ways to score — and it has to come from players like Anthony Cirelli, promoted to the top line in Point’s absence, Tyler Johnson and Alex Killorn.

From SB Nation’s Lighthouse Hockey:

The Islanders are a team that can function in a very machine-like way — when they have their full lineup. So it’s hard for me to envision how many times they can survive without Casey Cizikas and the lineup (and PK) hole his injury represents: whether going with 11 forwards in a three-centers-plus situation, or moving someone else to center, it seems the dam will break at some point.

But it didn’t break in Game 5 and I hope it doesn’t tonight.

Lines

TAMPA BAY LIGHTNING (via NHL.com)

Ondrej Palat — Anthony Cirelli — Nikita Kucherov
Alex Killorn — Yanni Gourde — Blake Coleman
Barclay Goodrow — Cedric Paquette — Tyler Johnson
Pat Maroon — Carter Verhaeghe

Victor Hedman — Kevin Shattenkirk
Ryan McDonagh — Zach Bogosian
Mikhail Sergachev — Erik Cernak
Luke Schenn

Andrei Vasilevskiy
Curtis McElhinney

Expected Scratches: Mathieu Joseph, Mitchell Stephens, Alexander Volkov, Braydon Coburn, Scott Wedgewood

Unfit to Play: Brayden Point, Jan Rutta, Steven Stamkos

NEW YORK ISLANDERS (via NHL.com)

Anders Lee — Mathew Barzal – Cal Clutterbuck
Anthony Beauvillier — Brock Nelson — Josh Bailey
Matt Martin — Jean-Gabriel Pageau — Jordan Eberle
Leo Komarov — Derick Brassard

Adam Pelech — Ryan Pulock
Devon Toews — Scott Mayfield
Nick Leddy — Andy Greene
Johnny Boychuk

Semyon Varlamov
Thomas Greiss

Expected Scratches: Michael Dal Colle, Ross Johnston, Otto Koivula, Andrew Ladd, Sebastian Aho, Noah Dobson, Thomas Hickey, Christopher Gibson

Unfit to Play: Casey Cizikas, Tom Kuhnhackl

How to Watch

Puck Drop: 5 p.m. PT/8 p.m. ET

Location: Rogers Place, Edmonton, AB

Broadcast/Streaming: NBCSN, CBC, SN, TVAS, FuboTV

fear the fin logoAs many of you know, Fear the Fin is an independent site run by Sharks fans for Sharks fans. Help keep Fear the Fin independent by contributing to our GoFundMe or buying merchandise. Proceeds help us pay our writers and fund subscriptions to our favorite analytics sites.


Looking for an easy way to support FearTheFin? Use our Affiliate Link when shopping hockey merch this holiday season!