The first overall in the NHL Tampa Bay Lightning head into Winnipeg to take on the third place in the league Jets in what many are considering a real test for the young Jets and a game that will be a great indication of where this club is near the halfway point of the season.

Tampa Bay Lightning (25-7-1/ 1st Atlantic)
@
Winnipeg Jets (21-9-2 / 2nd Central)

December 16, 2018 – Puck drop: 6:00 PM CST
Bell MTS Place – Winnipeg, MB
TV: Sportsnet – Radio: TSN 1290


vs TOR: 4-1 Win	Last Game	@ CHI: 4-3 OT Win
5-0-0 (5 W)	Last 5 Games	4-1-0 (4 W)
Brayden Point – 22	Goal Leader	Patrik Laine – 23
Nikita Kucherov – 34	Assist Leader	Blake Wheeler – 38
Nikita Kucherov – 47	Points Leader	Wheeler / Scheifele – 43
29.31% (3rd)	The Power Play	30.19% (1st)
83.93% (5th)	The Penalty Kill	82.29% (10th)
Andrei Vasilevskiy (10-3-1 / .933 Sv%)	Starting Goalie	Connor Hellebuyck (14-8-1 / .903 Sv%)
W vs TOR (48-49) / .980Sv%	Last Goalie Start	OTW vs EDM (22-26) / .846 Sv%
10-3-1 On Road	Road v Home Record	12-4-2 At Home

Tampa Bay Lightning To Watch

#88 Andrei Vasilevskiy – Goalie

The 24 year old goalie hadn’t played in over a month due to a foot fracture – his last action was November 10 – but he made his return to the Lightning net this past Thursday against the Leafs and all he did was stop 48 of 49 shots faced in a stunning performance that was punctuated by what might be the save of the year that I’m almost certain defies a few different laws of physics…

The Lightning are a tough enough team with all kinds of fire power to run up the score and a strong defense that makes getting shots difficult at the best of times (their game against Toronto not withstanding), but to have a goalie that can do this to keep pucks out of the net?

We’ll see what he has for an encore against Winnipeg.

Last Lightning Game

They were outplayed for good chunks of the game and actually fell behind 1-0 in the first period, but Vasilevskiy was outstanding while Nikita Kucherov had a goal and an assist to pick up a big win against Toronto Maple Leafs.

Tampa Bay Lightning Notebook

Winnipeg Sun: League-leading Lightning view matchup with Jets as a measuring stick – It isn’t just the Jets who are viewing tonight’s game as a good test of where their team is at this point in the season.

Raw Charge: Day after thoughts: Guess who’s back! Back again! Vasy’s back! Tell a friend! – Safe to say Tampa fans and media were quite happy to see 88 back in goal and it came not a moment too soon against a very tough Leafs squad.

The Lightning are starting a four game Western Canada road swing tonight with Winnipeg. They then will be heading out to the west coast and Vancouver before back tracking through Alberta to take on Edmonton and Calgary.
Tampa really has only one injury of note, defenseman Anton Stralman has been out for a handful of games, but could be back as early as tonight.

Winnipeg Jet To Watch

#37 Connor Hellebuyck – Goalie

The Jets goaltender has at times been hit or miss but he’s been a lot more good that he has been bad as of late. He will get a very stern test going up against Steven Stamkos, Brayden Point and company, so while tonight will be an indication of just where the Jets are in terms of being able to compete with the league’s best, it might be double that for Hellebuyck who could really use a “statement” game.

**Hellebuyck’s last 5 games**
						Goal	Goal	Goal	Goal
Date	Tm		Opp		DEC	GA	SA	SV	SV%
2018-12-13	WPG		EDM	W	W	4	26	22	.846
2018-12-09	WPG		PHI	W	W	1	37	36	.973
2018-12-07	WPG		STL	L	L	1	27	26	.963
2018-12-04	WPG	@	NYI	W	W	1	28	27	.964
2018-12-02	WPG	@	NYR	W	W	3	19	16	.842

Provided by Hockey-Reference.com: View Original Table

Last Jets Game

It took a second overtime in as many nights, but the Jets extended their win streak to four games and for a night at least the Jets claimed top spot in the west with a 4-3 OT win in Chicago.

Jets Notebook

The Jets power play has scored on eight of their last 17 chances. That’s pretty good, though it can be said they’ve feasted on some rather weak penalty killing units between Edmonton, Philly and Chicago.
While the Lightning have won their last eight games in a row, the Jets haven’t done too poorly themselves wight eight wins over their last nine games.

Global News: ‘I just feel like I fit here’: Winnipeg Jets coach talks tradition, hockey and home – The Jets head coach sits down to talk about his team, living in Winnipeg, and chewing gum.

Player ratings courtesy Corsica.Hockey
Lines as of 1:15PM CST Dec. 16, 2018

Be sure to check out our Twitter feed for any late mid-day updates to the game lineups!
You can also get up to the minute lineup combos for the Jets
including power play and penalty kill lines by checking out our line combo page.

Tampa Bay Lightning Lines

LW	C	RW	Forwards
ONDREJ PALAT Rating: 76.1#25 LW	STEVEN STAMKOS Rating: 83.0#8 C	YANNI GOURDE Rating: 76.2#23 RW	FL1 Rating Rating: 78.43#13 FL1
TYLER JOHNSON Rating: 75.4#47 LW	BRAYDEN POINT Rating: 84.2#7 C	NIKITA KUCHEROV Rating: 86.7#1 RW	FL2 Rating Rating: 82.06#1 FL2
ALEX KILLORN Rating: 74.1#62 LW	ANTHONY CIRELLI Rating: 75.3#50 C	J.T. MILLER Rating: 74.6#54 RW	FL3 Rating Rating: 74.67#2 FL3
ADAM ERNE Rating: 70.0#116 LW	CEDRIC PAQUETTE Rating: 70.2#155 C	RYAN CALLAHAN Rating: 71.3#90 RW	FL4 Rating Rating: 70.48#14 FL4

DEFENSIVE PAIRINGS	Defense
VICTOR HEDMAN Rating: 80.5#3 LD	DAN GIRARDI Rating: 72.6#44 RD	DL1 Rating Rating: 76.52#7 DL1
RYAN MCDONAGH Rating: 77.2#12 LD	ANTON STRALMAN Rating: 75.0#28 RD	DL2 Rating Rating: 76.09#3 DL2
BRAYDON COBURN Rating: 72.3#69 LD	MIKHAIL SERGACHEV Rating: 74.3#31 RD	DL3 Rating Rating: 73.31#3 DL3

GOALIES
ANDREI VASILEVSKIY Rating: 77.6#8 G1	LOUIS DOMINGUE Rating: 66.9#61 G2

Winnipeg Jets Lines

LW	C	RW	Forwards
NIKOLAJ EHLERS Rating: 76.4#23 LW	MARK SCHEIFELE Rating: 85.2#6 C	BLAKE WHEELER Rating: 80.6#6 RW	FL1 Rating Rating: 80.72#3 FL1
KYLE CONNOR Rating: 76.8#19 LW	BRYAN LITTLE Rating: 73.5#68 C	PATRIK LAINE Rating: 81.7#3 RW	FL2 Rating Rating: 77.33#5 FL2
MATHIEU PERREAULT Rating: 74.0#62 LW	ADAM LOWRY Rating: 73.7#65 C	BRANDON TANEV Rating: 71.5#79 RW	FL3 Rating Rating: 73.05#7 FL3
BRENDAN LEMIEUX Rating: 70.9#108 LW	JACK ROSLOVIC Rating: 71.0#140 C	MASON APPLETON	FL4 Rating Rating: 70.93#10 FL4

DEFENSIVE PAIRINGS	Defense
JOSH MORRISSEY Rating: 75.5#24 LD	JACOB TROUBA Rating: 77.7#16 RD	DL1 Rating Rating: 76.60#9 DL1
BEN CHIAROT Rating: 71.5#92 LD	DUSTIN BYFUGLIEN Rating: 80.7#7 RD	DL2 Rating Rating: 76.08#2 DL2
DMITRY KULIKOV Rating: 70.1#120 LD	TYLER MYERS Rating: 74.7#30 RD	DL3 Rating Rating: 72.38#7 DL3