2020 NHL Stanley Cup Final

Tanpa Bay Lightning has a chance to win the Stanley Cup in Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Final on Saturday (8 pm ET, NBC, Live streaming via the internet) When they took on the Dallas Stars.

Injuries are again a big factor Steven Stankos Is Lose another game for lightning He continues to recover from a minor body injury.

Dallas side, Roop Hintz, Blake Camou, And Rodek Faxa Not all are available, Leaving a significant dent in the already hard-fought penalty killing section of the series.

Stars This post-season should mix another improbable run, And it should start on Saturday night.

Let’s take a look at the three keys to the game to get you ready.

[NBC 2020 STANLEY CUP PLAYOFF HUB]

1. Kill the Stars Penalty vs. Lightning Power Game

You could say that you need to go back to the No. 1 key from Game 4 and the Stars have to be disciplined, but it looks like this ship has already sailed in this series. Additionally, with the lightning click on power play they may not need as many opportunities to change the game right now and get to the big goal.

Lightning scored on six of their 15 power play chances in the series and exited the Game 4 show where they found the back of the net three times. Kevin ShuttenkirkOvertime Winning Goal.

This group is very good, very talented and very precise to slow down consistently. Add to that the fact that there are Stars without Radek Foxa, Blake Comeau and Roop Hintz (three regulars in Pike, the former two most used players) and this becomes even more of a big challenge.

Blake Comey, Radek Foxa and Roop Hintz have 32.3% snow time in the Stars forwards on penalty kill during the regular season. Ask loudly for Dallas against the smoking lightning power game.

– Matthew DeFranks (DMDeFranks) September 26, 2020

There is so much to replace.

2. Goals from behind

Most teams do not like to play their goals back-to-back at both ends of the regular season and we have also seen a lot of teams using their backups in the post season this year to help reduce the workload.

But no coach is sitting their starter in the Stanley Cup Final, especially in the Elimination Game.

So you’re going to see Andrei Vasilevsky And Anton Khudobin Both goals came again on Saturday despite playing a total overtime game just 24 hours earlier.

Back-to-backs are always a lot for marbles, but they should be running on the chimneys at this point when you consider the workload you have taken on this post season.

This is especially true since Vasilevsky has played every minute for Lightning since the start of the post-season in late July.

Judging by the way the series is played, the Stars need Khudobin to take them back.

3. Top line of Tampa Bay

Trio of Nikita Kucherov, Brighton Point, And Ondrage Palette Dominated all post seasons and they are somehow strengthening in the Stanley Cup final.

They were together for seven points in the first four games of the series (four per point, Kucherov and Palat each), and Kucherov had five assists.

Not only did it help them regain power play rolling, but their 5-on-5 play was equally dominant.

Check out the numbers this line produces when the three of them are in the snow together during a 5-on-5 game:

• Total shot attempts: Tampa Bay 64, Dallas 26 (71.1 percent in favor of Tampa Bay)
• Shots on target: Tampa Bay 31, Dallas 13 (70. 4 percent in favor of Tampa Bay)
• Expected Objectives: Tampa Bay 2.92, Dallas 1.06 (73.3 percent in favor of Tampa Bay)
• Objectives: Tampa Bay 4, Dallas 1 (80.0 percent in favor of Tampa Bay)

5-on-5 ice time in just 48 minutes.

The Stars have no answer for them, and it’s not really important to have a defensive pair that they both tried to use Miro Heiskanen And John Klingberg They could not slow them down. Klingberg’s pairing was difficult as the Stars overcame a 2-0 2-4 draw in the 20 minutes paired against the Kucherov line.

(Data in this post by Natural Stat Trick)

Tampa Bay Lightning vs. Dallas Stars (TB 3-1 lead)

Stars 4, lightning 1. (Recap)
Lightning 3, stars 2. (Recap)
Lightning 5, stars 2. (Recap)
Lightning 5, stars 4 [OT]. (Recap)
Game 5: Saturday, September 26, 8 pm ET – NBC (Live streaming via the internet)
* Game 6: Monday, September 28, 8 pm ET – NBC
* Game 7: Wednesday, September 30, 8 pm ET – NBC

* If necessary

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Adam Gretz An author for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Leave him a line [email protected] Or follow him on Twitter -Agretz.