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Tampa Bay Lightning Win 4 Straight! Flyers, Wild & Islanders Recap - Rangers preview · Backchecking the Bolts

• Jason Linkes: Coming up, I'm Backchecking the Bolts.. Lightning have played four games where they've scored first and they've won all four. There was one game where they didn't score first and they lost. You know, it's a small sample size, it's only five games, but the other team has to work so hard to come back when you're up a goal or up two goals. So just the amount of energy a team has to burn just to come back. How much should the Islanders have to burn just to get it tied at three? And then, you know, the Lightning can push back, all they needed was a shot, you know, a lucky bounce, something like that. Welcome to Backchecking the Bolts.. Backchecking the Bolts. is your cup of coffee to get you the latest on the Tampa Bay Lightning. Join hosts Jason Linkes. and the managing editor of Raw Charge, Justin Godfrey, as they break down the Lightning's most recent games and go beyond the highlights, telling you what the box scores didn't. It's time to drop the puck. Hi everybody and welcome to Backchecking the Bolts.. It is Sunday. The Lightning now are on a four-game winning streak, and we're here to talk about it all. Hi, I'm Jason Lincoln. I'm joined by Justin Godfrey. As always, you can read him each and every day at www.rawcharge.com. Today we're going to break down not only the Flyers 4 1 victory, but a tough 3-2 victory against the Minnesota Wild that concluded a three-game homestand. Then the Lightning last night. Went over to Long Island. They were victorious by a score of five to three. Brandon Hagel with the hat trick. We're gonna talk about Justin's three takeaways from each game. Eighty-four games, eighty-four bets. Justin had a pretty good week, went two and one. So we're gonna go over that. And we're also gonna do a quick preview of the Rangers and Seattle games this week. And now it's time to turn it over to my cohort. He is Justin Godfrey at Rawcharge.com. Justin. The four one win against the Flyers, let's talk about that one first. And going into that game, the power play was struggling 0 for ten at that point. And we saw later on in the week they the power play responded with a couple of goals, but this is the first game where we really saw the power play come to life and get some good chances. Yeah, it's kind of been an interesting thing with the power play. I I thought they were they were doing some good things outside of the Rangers game. I mean that O for seven that they took. in the season opener game. they were just completely out of sorts for I think six out of or five out of the seven power plays. They just didn't look good from but moving on from then, I think even starting in the Washington game a little bit, then moving into the Philly game, they were getting their chances. They did really well on the power play as far as face offs against Philly. Their zone entries look good. I just think Dan Vladar had a really good game against them and denied a couple early opportunities. So it was kind of one of those things where You could see it coming along. You knew they were gonna score eventually. They just have too much talent to not get going with the power play. And in my opinion, it's it's one of those things that the shortened training camp did affect, because they're not the only team that's struggling right now on the power play. I took a quick look before we went on and I think the Panthers are at three point six percent. The Canadians are the Canadians and the Sabres are tied at five point nine percent. So the Lightning are at ten percent right now with their two goals they've scored. They're not even the worst in their own division. So I think it's one of those things that, you know, special teams play probably didn't quite get as much work in training camp as it normally does. these teams are gonna come along. You've seen it with the Lightning. and it was kind of interesting that after the game on their practice day, they did kind of miss mix the lines around a little bit. they brought Charles Edward D'Astous on to play the point and moved Karlsson over to that left circle. Just ran it in practice. Cooper said that, you know, just because you're seeing it now doesn't mean we're gonna do it in the game and sure enough they did not. They you know, they haven't run that formation out yet. But I think it also gives you just a different view sometimes. I mean, you you you run with the same partners all the time. I think if you're struggling, just mixing up the way you see the puck, even in practice, may help you out. And they came out, you know, in the next game, you know, next two games and scored some power play goals. So they're getting back together. You it's still only at ten percent. You know, some people say it's ten percent. I I like to say they're you know, two for their last seven. So that's an even better percentage. So We'll see how it goes from there. But it looked really good in the Philly game, and so you still have the basis for it coming around. It always takes defensemen a little bit longer to acclimate to a new team, and I think this was the first game we saw John Karlsson really play like John Karlsson, and I want to talk about the first goal. We always talk about face-offs and how the Lightning, have struggled. Well, that was one where Brayden Point won the draw, got it back to Karlsson, and he was rewarded with the deflection goal. I thought it was an Important point with the Lightning with face-offs, because against Philadelphia, who last year was an okay face-off team. Yeah. But the other thing is where they really took it to him was in shots. They outshot the Flyers 36 to 15 in the game. And Vasilevskiy had a pretty easy night, but talk about Carlson's game and how it evolved going into that Flyers game. Yeah, it's kind of funny that I think on our pregame note or pre-recording notes, I put it was his best game as as a bolt, and then he goes out and has an even better one against the wild. but you kind of saw against the Flyers what John Karlsson brings to this team. Brayden Point mentioned it, I want to say, in training camp or shortly after. It's just his ability to get the puck on the net. He doesn't boom it out there a hundred miles an hour like Raddysh did. But he is he does have a pretty good shot. He does hit the ninety mile mile an hour mark and he gets it on net. And you saw it more so against the wild in the next game where he had 11 shot attempts and nine of them were on net. But even against the Flyers, you just saw him play with a little bit more confidence. He's moving the puck around. I think he's starting to get that feel for playing with Kuchov and playing with Brayden Point and some of these other guys, including his partner JJ Moser. And he's just more comfortable out on the ice. one of the things was he does look a little slower than I was anticipating. I'm not gonna lie. You know, and some of that foot speed isn't quite there. But that being said, he is smart with the puck. He does get it out of the offensive zone really well. He does carry the puck pretty good. And so you're starting to see what John Karlsson brings to this team. And I think it's a benefit. And I I think they're probably going to keep the power play going the way it is now, now that he's getting more comfortable up there at the point. You mentioned Dan Vladar. The Lightning were in a tight game. This was a two-one hockey game going into the last couple minutes of the game before McKayev had his nice little wraparound goal and Hagel ended it with an empty netter. But Dan Vladar played really well, and this was a guy who struggled in the opener against the Pittsburgh Penguins, and then sat for two straight games, which is a little bit surprising for a number one. I thought he looked extremely good and I thought he made some really tough saves early in that third period. He did. the team in front of him wasn't playing very well. I know prior to the Lightning game, Tacit had called them out a bit a little bit about their compete level and it showed against the Lightning. I you know the the score was close. It was one of these games where the score is close, but the play on the ice wasn't. I thought the Lightning took it to him for pretty much the majority of the game. There were a couple rushes here and there for for the Flyers, but for the most part, that game was played in the Philadelphia end, and that's really the Lightning's best defense there. their fore check was really strong. They did a great job in the neutral zone of breaking things up. So it was good to see. And yeah, Vladar is the one who kept that game close. Now let's go over to the Thursday night game. The Lightning had two days off and then they faced the Minnesota Wild. Justin, you were at the arena covering that game And surprisingly, it was Dennis Hildeby in net and he played a real strong game. Cooper talked about it after the words. He just r he really wanted to get Hildeby a start at home and he didn't want him to sit too long. With the way the schedule's set up, there just aren't any back to back games from now until I think the end of the month. I think it's towards the twenty sixth or something like that before their first back to back. So he wanted to get Hildeby some action. He didn't want it to be on the road. And, you know, that's kind of showing some trust in what he has in his backup goalie. I don't I think if it was Jonas Johansson back there, he probably starts against the Flyers instead of the Wild. Hildeby went out there, did what he had to do. He was one of the best players on the ice. Do you think seeing Hildeby play against the I mean the Minnesota Wild are probably one of the top five teams in terms of the odds makers of winning the Stanley Cup this year? How much additional confidence do you think it gives his teammates seeing him go out against a top notch opponent One play well and two get the W. tremendous. And you know, there was a joke I I think in the press box somebody said they really wanted the team master really wanted to see Hildebay play 'cause they gave up what thirty-six shots, which is more than they did in any of the games that Vasilevskiy started. But yeah, to see him go out there and play like he did, it gives them the confidence that they can go out and play their game, that they don't have to be overly protective with the puck. They can take their chances and he's gonna be back there to bail him out. I thought his big Biggest save was on Blake Coleman. The Lightning were up three to one. I wanna say Minnesota was on the power play, and Coleman had a chance right in front of the net, just point blake, and Hildeby stoned him. Those were the type of saves that Johansson just wasn't giving them last year. You know, and if the Wilds score there is three to two, it's a whole different kind of ball game. Seeing him make those saves, those timely saves, There was another one in the third period where it ricochets off of the camera hole on the boards and kind of comes flying back out into the crease, and I think it actually would have gone in if he hadn't made the save. And yeah, they're like I said, they're just gonna have more confidence in him when he makes his next start. And Justin, you and I talked a little bit earlier about the power play, how it's evolving. It was against Minnesota that they finally got on the board. But I do want to talk about the first two goals. The Cirelli goal, who deflected the turnack shot, and Gonsalves Who did not get a goal, but he is the one who is directly responsible for Carlson's goal because he set a great screen in front of Wallstedt in front of the net. Are you noticing the Lightning now as the season's starting to get a little bit settled? They're getting into the dirty areas a little bit more. Yeah, I would say through that little winning streak at home, that was probably the most noticeable aspect of their game. a lot of good battles against the boards, got a lot of good wins there. their like I said earlier, their forecheck was really good against Philly. It was really good against Minnesota for roughly two thirds of the game. I thought Minnesota had a good pushback. in the third period, when you have a player like Quinn Hughes is who's a one man breakout machine, it's always gonna be trouble. they slit they kind of slid against the Islanders a little bit. We'll get to that later. but I think the hallmark of this team is they are gonna make those dirty plays in front of the net. they're gonna screen goaltenders. I thought they did a really good job. in the wild game at doing that, like you mentioned Gonçales, who I don't think had a point in that game, but he had a few good plays just like that where he was winning battles either on the boards or getting in the way at the front of the net. He was right in Wallstedt's kitchen. He never saw the shot from Karlsson. But the other thing I wanted to talk to you, Justin, was about the back check in that game. When they had the lead in the third period, and Hildeby did make some good saves But they were really Backchecking hard in that game. And one player in particular you had mentioned to me before the show was Connor Geekie. And it was something that you probably hadn't seen quite as much of him do in his earlier stints with the Lightning. But he had a very good third period, even though he didn't go on the score sheet. Yeah, it was one of those one of the big things Geekie's always kind of been maligned for, I would say, is his skating. He's a big guy. He has great hands, great shot. We've seen it with the goal he scored this year, that nice snapping wrist wristing shot he had a couple games ago. But his skating has always been kind of an issue for somebody his size. And he just kind of needs to get to NHL average. If he can do that, he's gonna be fine. There was a play. he had the puck in the offensive zone, turnover, goes the other way. And Minnesota is a fast team. they play with a lot of speed. he was one of the first ones back on the back check, broke up the play, and then the puck goes the other way and he's busting his butt. Going the down back down into the offensive zone. That's kind of a team wide thing right now. There was another play at the very end of the game, and Minnesota's pushing. Shot comes off from the side. Matt Boldy had the shot. And it would be made to save, but the rebound comes out in front. Brandon Hagel is right there tying up his man. No chance for a rebound. Horn sounds, game over. Lightning win. It's those kind of battles that the good teams win. That's the little plays that Don't really go into the score sheet that you not remember the next day, but you know, it prevents a chance, it prevents a goal. So when the Lightning are doing that, they're gonna be absolutely okay in this division and and in this conference. So Justin, one of the stars on the Minnesota Wild is Quinn Hughes. Now we saw him score a real pretty goal to make it two to one to get the wild back in that game. A goal a similar goal that we saw in the Islander game, except Matthew Schaefer Shot it in and it deflected off at JP Pageau, but I want to talk about Hughes. Tell everyone at home just how good of a hockey player this guy is. I mean, he was dynamite in the game, even in a losing effort. He has all the skill in the world. We hear all the rumors out there about where he could possibly end up if he hits free agency, but tell everyone about his game. I mean, he just never stops moving with the puck, and it seems like he's out there. Every single shift. It's kind of funny. The the why would have a couple players with four, you know, f in the forties with their with their jerseys. And when you're up in the press box, you're kinda, you know, looking over what's the other number. But you can always tell who Quinn Hughes is just from the way he moves on the ice, with the way he has the puck. And he's elusive, he's quick, he makes the good decisions. And like the ability to walk the blue line with the puck. We saw it with Sergachev back when he was with the Lightning. Just to be able to move back and forth and and have those screeners out in front, those forwards that are out kind of in that checking position, constantly on the move back and forth, especially on the power play, it causes so much havoc. And it it allows you to get that first initial shot through and then cause either rebounds, deflections, things like that. and like I said earlier, he's a one man breakout unit, so you don't have to worry about him making a pass or anything. He's just going to carry it out, skate his way all the way down the ice, get you a a scoring chance or two, and then you know, sit on the bench for a 25 seconds and then come out and do it again. Well, Justin, let's move on to the Islanders game that was played on Saturday night. Of all three games this week, it was probably the Lightning's worst effort, even though it was a winning effort. It was a 5-3 victory. The story of the game was the Brandon Hagel hat trick. Hagel now leads the team with four goals, got his second empty netter of the season. The empty netter this time sealed the victory. He also got the game winning he also got the game winning goal. To make it four three in the third. We talked about Quinn Hughes. You had mentioned to me right after this game, Matthew Schaefer was the one who really caught your eye on these young defensemen. Yeah, he kind of reminds me of a taller Quinn Hughes. He's on the ice seemingly the entire game. He's got the puck on his stick the entire game, and he's noticeable. you have so many of these players that that that play a lot, but maybe you don't notice them because they're doing other things. Like a JJ Moser. You don't always notice what he's doing while he's out there playing twenty, twenty two minutes or something like that. Matthew Schaefer, you always know when he's on the ice. The shot that he had, I believe it was was it on the yeah, it was on the power play, I think, where he walks the blue line, it's the proverbal, cuts on a dime and leaves you some change, right? And he's going up against Cirelli, who's one of the best four checkers out there, one of those best checkers out there. And Cirelli, to his credit, actually got a stick on the puck slightly. Like he touched it just a bit. So it did throw Schaefer off a little bit, kinda pushed the puck a little bit b farther back from where he wanted to shoot it, but he still ripped off a shot through traffic that Vasilevskiy never even saw. and then some of his backchecks,, some of his play in the defensive zone. For nineteen year old, the kid's got a great head on his shoulder. He's usually in the right spot. He makes the right play. He has a couple of really nice stick checks. a la a younger Victor Hedman, you know, kinda yeah, he's a big guy, but he doesn't always have to use his size for physical play, you can use it for a reach and interrupting things. So the Islanders have themselves a really nice one in there. Late in the second period it was a three to two Tampa lead. You never want to give up a goal in the last minute of a period or the first minute of a period and the Lightning found themselves on the end they don't want to be on. They gave up a a game tying goal, Schenn on the power play after Hagel blocks a shot, can't find the puck. What did you think how do you think the Lightning responded going into that third period? It was it was a tough one. I'm not gonna lie. I think for most of the second period, most of the early third period, the Islanders were the better team. the Lightning were getting a little bit slower to the puck than what we had seen over the la the previous three games. you know, I'd mentioned their forecheck and their ability to disrupt things on breakouts and in the neutral zone. The Islanders were just flat out beating them in those two sections of the ice. The Islanders would get the puck, it'd be r out of the zone and they'd be hitting the Lightning zone with speed. pushing him back. So you had to have, you know, Vasilevskiy be your best player for most of that game. And he was. I mean, he made a couple of really n really nice saves to keep the game close. That being said, the Lightning bent. They didn't break. They had a few moments of their own. And then the Hagel goal, it's just one of those sometimes they forget about just shooting the puck on net. Like the shot he took was not a great shot. Like analytics, Sorokin's not gonna be happy that one went in. Exactly. I mean, so I don't it was one of those I don't think Sirokin saw it because Hagel just shot it through a screen. he had mentioned that he had saw Cirelli breaking to the net, so I don't even know if he was shooting the score. I think he was kind of shooting for a rebound that his you know line may could kind of clean up and get a chance on. But sometimes you gotta do that. You gotta just fire the puck at the net. And we've seen Hagel do that where he kind of cuts to his left, brings it back and tries to shoot across the flow of traffic. This time he just kinda snuck it in. on the short side post, but sometimes you just gotta shoot the puck. so Cooper wasn't entirely happy with you know their play on overall, but I I it's one of those games where when you find a way to win a game like that, it it boosts your confidence. You can be like, hey, look, we didn't play great. We gotta clean some stuff up, but we still got the two points. We're gonna move on. I was gonna say they had the two goal lead. They played really well in the first period. That's why you get the lead. We talked about it like during the season preview, how important it is to play with the lead. And the Lightning have played four games where they've scored first and they've won all four. There was one game where they didn't score first and they lost, right? you know, it's a small sample size, it's only five games, but the other team has to work so hard to come back when you're up a goal or up two goals. And Lightning have been actually been up two goals, I think, in all the games. so just the amount of energy a team has to burn just to come back, you know, how much did the Islanders have to burn just to get it tied at three? The Lightning can push back, all they needed was a shot, a lucky bounce, something like that. So when you when you build that lead, when you play well early, you kind of give yourself a little cushion, and that's what the Lightning did on Saturday night. So it's good to see if the you don't want to see that kind of play the whole game. You don't want to have to rely on Vasilevskiy for 40 minutes of a game, even though he's up to the task. I thought, you know, the two saves he made, one on the breakaway on Horvat early, and then the wraparound chance by Duclair late. I mean that that wraparound chance, Duclair Yeah, he was such a fun player to watch with the Lightning. He was one guy I kind of wish they had re-signed, because I think a full year in their system would have been really good for him. But he just accelerated. he's kind of one of these guys who can coast in and then just turn on the jets. And that's what he did to Moser. Cuts behind the net, wraparound, and I would say on ninety percent of the goalie's out there, he probably tucks that thing in. but Vasilevskiy gets the leg down, gets the skate out, and you know, if he was an inch shorter, it's a goal, but he made the save. The win moves Andrei Vasilevskiy to twentieth on the all time NHL wins list. He's now one behind John Van Beesbrook for nineteenth place, so Vasilevskiy, if he continues to play well this season and plays a full season, he is going to be climbing up the charts. Just in talking about climbing up the charts is your betting record. After an O and two start, you went two and one this week at Philadelphia. Brayden Point, you had him over one and a half shots and Tampa on the puck line. And for those of you who are not familiar with the puck line, the puck line, if you're the favorite, you give a goal and a half. If you're the underdog, you get a goal and a half. You had the favored Tampa Bay Lightning giving the goal and a half, you got that as a win against Minnesota. You had Charles Edward DeSteu over one and a half shots, you got that one, and then You weren't quite as strong in the Islanders game. You had Sirocan over twenty three and a half saves and you just missed that one. So pretty pretty nice week for you there, Justin. It's a profitable one. It's probably a little bit, you know, made a couple pennies on the week, climbed pretty close back to almost even for the season. you know, and that Sirokin one, you know, the guy comes in the game, he's allowed three goals the entire season. and you look at some of the analytic numbers about the number of shots the Islanders have b given up on the year, and you're kinda like, Hey the You know, even if the Lightning do score two or three, you know, they're they're gonna, you know, they're still gonna put up thirty. I mean the Lightning have been one of the surprising things about this season has been the number of shots the Lightning have been putting up. They're they're generally not a high volume team. They've they've been in the high twenties and thirties for a couple of their games so far. So that was kind of the reasoning behind that. He kinda let in a couple that he probably doesn't normally. It was a nail biter at the end. You know, you just kinda hope every shot that heads in his direction he gets at least a piece of. So it counts as a safe. We weren't lucky, so That one went down. And I'm not gonna lie, the D'Astous one probably got a little lucky with that win 'cause I was anticipating him being on the power play. And you know, the Wild had taken a few penalties in their last couple of games, so I was gonna I was thinking he was gonna get a little bit more p power play time than he did. but he still managed to to hit the number. So yeah, so it was a good week. We'll see what we got lined up for the Rangers game. it's gonna be an interesting one, I'm sure, on Tuesday. But yeah, so that's that's how we're doing, so So this week, Justin, let's talk real quick about the Lightning schedule. They go back to New York. So two times in six games they play in Madison Square Garden, but they're gonna see a much different New York Rangers team, Igor Shesterkin. They're all world goaltender out for the season. They didn't of course it's the NHL, they're not gonna say what the injury is. It's a lower body injury. He could t have torn his ACL, he might have had his leg amputated. We don't know. But it's They're not going to have Shisterka in the net. That's it absolutely enormous for the Rangers. What do you think that we're going to see from the Rangers coming into this game? Well, it's interesting. They're not going to have Corposalo either, who is their backup. I mean, he's out three to four weeks as well. So I mean, it looks like at this point it's going to be Dylan Garland, kind of a younger goaltender, s snuck through waivers. I think he was on waivers he got cut in training camp. Yeah, and and I think that's just a numbers thing. You know, I think they like the kid. It's not like they cut him because, you know, he wasn't any good, but and there was some s some actual doubt that he, you know, he may have was gonna get claimed. they were kind of worried about that for a little bit. but he made it through. Now he's up there, he's gonna be their starter. I've heard all kinds of rumors about Jonathan Quick coming out of retirement. I think he's their goaltending coach or like a goaltender assistant for them. So, you know, him coming out of retirement. I think there was a s a couple other well, Connor Hellebuyck's name has been mentioned a little bit. I don't know how they make that happen. I mean, y you could make it happen for this year, but like moving forward, I don't see how you have what twenty million dollars tied up in two goaltenders and then Corpusalo signed through next year too. So it would take some magic to kind of get through that. So I think you're gonna see a much much more defensive oriented Rangers team. I think they're gonna be much more focused on limiting the chances against cutting down on the shots, kind of protecting their goaltender as much as possible. If you look statistically, it's kind of one of those weird games where some of the analytics don't match what you saw on the ice, because the Lightning, I think, had more scoring chances, they had more high danger chances, they had more shots than the Rangers in that first game, which anyone who watched the game knew the Rangers were the better team. but it was a nice wake up call for the Lightning. I think you're gonna see a better effort out of the Lightning. I think you're gonna see them attacking. They know that, you know You got some wounded prey in front of you. And there's th there's always pride with these professional athletes. you don't like going out opening night and losing five to one, you know, no matter who you are, and especially if you're a Stanley Cup contender. So I think there's some pride in there. The Lightning are gonna want to go in there, finish it off finish off this road trip, keep the win streak going. so I think you're gonna see a really good effort from the Lightning. I think you're gonna see them try and come out and push really hard in the first period, rattle the young kid a little bit, get some shots on him, make him you know, make some saves. And prove that he can stop an NHL shot. Justin on Thursday, the Bolts. travel back to Tampa. A real quick road trip, head back to Tampa. Thursday they play the Seattle Kraken. It's a it's a team we don't get to see a whole lot. The last time we saw the Bolts. were victorious out in Seattle last year. I think it was in February. What are we going to expect to see out of the Kraken and who should we keep an eye on? I hadn't really thought about the Kraken much this year. They're a West Coast team, so they're as far away as possible from the Lightning,, so they're not top of mind. They've scored twenty one goals so far. And I believe seventeen of those have come at even strength. They're they're second in the league actually when it comes to even strength goals, five on five goals. And they've really spread it out. they have seven or eight players with two or more goals. Bobby McCann's leading their points, if I'm not mistaking. I don't have it pulled up in front of me now, but it's like everybody has three or two goals. So there's gonna be a a a team that that's gonna come at you with every line. I think they're playing a little bit tougher than they have in The last couple of years and again, you know, it's been a rough couple of years for them. They probably want to get back into the playoffs. They they want to get off to a good start. That division's always gonna be up for grabs, even with the Oilers going off, you know, starting off with a with a good season. You know, we're starting off their season well. But yeah, I think it's not gonna be a cakewalk for the Lightning. You're coming off of that road trip, even though it's only two games, they've probably been up to New York for four days now. I think they went up there and they stayed. So it is a little bit longer than just a two game road trip. And sometimes that first game back home, you know, you're you're not quite peddled to the metal, especially against an out of conference team. But it's gonna be interesting to see how they play, how they match up. You know, does Cooper keep rolling these eleven to seven lines? I have a feeling Dominic James will be back, if not for the Rangers game, then definitely for their cracking game. they took him off of IR earlier this week, sent him down to Syracuse just and they they literally said the only reason we're sending him to Syracuse is so that he can get some playing time. He didn't play in the preseason. he's been practicing with the team, but he hasn't seen any game action. So they wanted him to go down. He played both games in Syracuse over the weekend. so I expect to see him. If not Tuesday, then definitely on Thursday at home against the Kraken. Justin, real quick, James is back in the lineup. Who's out? It's probably going to be Viel. If they stay with the eleven seven, I could see Viel being the one out. He he went out against the Islanders and Scott Sabourin got his game in. And Scott Sabourin did Scott Sabourin things, got into a fight, threw a few hits, and actually had one really nice offensive play. so you know, a Scott Sabourin type of game. So yeah, I think probably Vale is the one that that goes out and James kind of gets that f kind of fourth line, mixed line where he's playing with Hagel, he's playing with Kucherov. you know, whoever they want to throw down there along with him and Geekie. And I I I think that's actually not a bad combination with James bringing the speed, you know, and if he's matched up with Hagel and Geekie on that line, it it should be kind of a fun mi mismatch line to kind of watch play. So we'll see how they go. If he stays with the eleven seven, I think the big question's gonna be when Gourde comes back in December. You know, if they're still rolling eleven seven all this who now who comes out of the lineup 'cause I think everyone's played pretty well and Not too many holes on it on this forward set right now. Well, so far the Lightning haven't had many injuries during the actual season. They had a couple coming into the season, as you mentioned, James and Yanni Gourde. So it'll be interesting to see how healthy they are able to stay. Justin, tell us what's going on over at Raw Charge. let's see. What do we got going on this week? And we're gonna finish up finally finish up our season previews. we'll roll out Toronto probably tomorrow. our friend Mantis Toboggan will have his Atlantic division wrap up. So we'll see what his thoughts on how the division has done over the last week. And then we'll go from there. We'll have our previews up, starting to look at some of the defensive usage as well early on the season with his eleven seven rotation, kind of trying to look at the numbers, seeing who's doing well, who's kind of at the fewest minutes on on the ice as the seventh defendment. And Spoiler, it's actually I believe it's Victor Hedman. Yeah. So it's Victor Hedman. If you don't count Littleberg. Yeah. So Lilleberg's only played the one game and he got hurt in it, towards the end of it in that fight. So right now at five on five, Victor Hedman is averaging eleven minutes and three seconds. So he's kind of been the seventh defenseman, but he's been very productive in those eleven minutes. so we'll take a little bit more of a look in that. Justin, do you think Lilleberg's back this week or you think it's maybe next week? No, it sounds like he'll be back. They weren't too worried about him. and again, he I think he got a maybe when somebody asked him if he would play Tuesday against the Rangers from Coach Cooper. yeah, I think it was just a little you know, he picked a pretty big man in that fight that he went on against I think it was Vincent Des Arnay again in against Washington. So he didn't quite make it out unscathed. so we'll see. But it sounds like he's back. He's been practicing. We will be back this Wednesday. We're going to recap the Rangers game. We'll talk a little bit more in depth about the Seattle game on Thursday back at the Benchmark Arena. And also take a look at what the Lightning have in store the following weekend. For Justin Godfrey, who you can read each and every day at www.racharge.com. I'm Jason Linkes.. Thanks for joining us today. Thanks for listening to us as I battle my laryngitis. And again, please hit that like and subscribe button and go Bolts.. Go Bolts.. Thank you for listening to Backchecking the Bolts.. We are free and available on all platforms, including Apple, Spotify, iHeartRadio, Amazon, YouTube, and Deezer. If you enjoyed it, please be sure to subscribe and leave a review. You can follow Justin on Blue Sky at Rawcharge.com. You can follow the show on X at Tampa underscore Bolts. underscore pod and on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube at BackcheckingTheBolts. If you're interested in advertising on the show or partnering with us, You can find more information in the show notes or email Jason at backcheckingthebolts at yahoo.com.