San Jose Sharks at Tampa Bay Lightning
2023-10-26T23:00:00.000Z
Mackenzie Blackwood
Confirmed
2023-10-26T16:01:47.184Z| W-L-OTL: | 10-25-4 |
| GAA: | 3.45 |
| SV%: | 0.899 |
| SO: | 2 |
Mackenzie Blackwood will start Thursday vs. Tampa Bay. Blackwood will start for the fifth time in six games for the Sharks on Thursday. Despite an 0-3-1 record, Blackwood has had a couple of very strong performances in losing efforts. On Tuesday, he made 32 of 34 saves in a 3-1 loss to the Florida Panthers. On the season as a whole, Blackwood has a 3.47 GAA and .914 SV%, admirable totals playing on a Sharks team that gives him virtually zero goal support (1.33 GF/GP). That said, expectations remain extremely low for Blackwood and the Sharks as they are +250 road underdogs against the Tampa Bay Lightning. Source: Sheng Peng
Jonas Johansson
Confirmed
2023-10-26T22:30:31.810Z| W-L-OTL: | 12-7-5 |
| GAA: | 3.37 |
| SV%: | 0.89 |
| SO: | 2 |
Johansson will start Thursday's game against the Sharks. Johansson is coming off his best performance of the season, a 32-save shutout victory over the Carolina Hurricanes. Despite being a journeyman for most of his career and never starting more than 13 games in a single NHL season, Johansson is off to a great start with the Lightning as he continues to fill in for the injured Andrei Vasilevskiy. In six games thus far (3-1-2), Johansson has a 2.99 GAA and .917 SV%, significantly better than the 3.29 GAA and .892 SV% he has accumulated throughout his 41-game NHL career ( 14-14-6). The Lightning rank 12th-worst defensively (3.43 GA/GP) but will look to improve that total as they are -285 home favourites against a San Jose Sharks team averaging a league-worst 1.33 goals per game.Source: Chris Krenn
