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A win tonight for the Tampa Bay Lightning means they’ll be facing off against the 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