Tonight's tilt between the high-powered Lightning offence and the surging Flames (5:30 MTN, TV: Sportsnet West, Radio: Sports960 The FAN) features two clubs on runs going head-to-head.
"We're know we're in for a battle," said centre Mark Jankowski. "They're a very good team, obviously. But we're a good team, too. We have to come out with the right mentality, with a good start, a good hard first 10 minutes.
"Anytime, home or away, but especially on the road you want to get on them early. That can set the tone for the game."
Tampa Bay also sports a league best +53 goal differential and led by one-two scoring punch Nikita Kucherov (whose 27 goals and 60 points is tops in the NHL) and Steven Stamkos (whose 17 goals and 52 points is third overall), they have been prolific when it comes to filling the opposition's net.
"The thing that sticks out is that they are a team that can score," said captain Mark Giordano. "They can really put the puck in the net. We don't want to play a run-and-gun game with this team. We have to play with our structure and be solid defensively."
"We feel on the road we simplify our game," he continued. "We can grind it out so that's how we have to play."
The Flames have improved of late in their first-period play, controlling the tempo and pushing the pace against opponents, something that is key every game but especially tonight.
However, dealing with adversity has also been a focus of late, not getting deflated if the other team strikes first.
"You don't want to get behind against a team that scores as much as they can because then you have to open up a little bit and maybe give them more," said Giordano. "We need a good start. But we can't get too caught up though in who scores the first goal. We feel like early in the year we were getting caught up in that too much as a team. We just play the game and whatever happens early happens but as long as play to our structure and do what we're supposed to we'll be fine for the rest of the game."
Coach Glen Gulutzan said tonight provides a pivotal test for his club.
"This will be a measuring stick," said Gulutzan. "The more of these type of games you play the better your team becomes. Just getting up to that level is going to be a good thing for us."
