Utah's problems are on the back end. Seattle beat the Mammoth 5-3 and led after every period. The Kraken scored 2 power-play goals in the 2nd while Utah was missing John Marino. Marino had been producing before he got hurt: he assisted on Barrett Hayton's power-play goal in Edmonton and scored in the rematch. Maveric Lamoureux is on injured reserve as well. Up front, Michael Carcone went on IR, and Utah recalled defenseman Artem Duda from Tucson for the first NHL call-up of his career. That's a lot of turnover on one blue line.
As of Friday morning Tampa was 7-2-0 with 3 straight wins, and the 6-2 win in Vegas was their best result of the run. Their only loss in the last 5 was a 4-1 game at Madison Square Garden. Utah has gone win-loss-win at home lately: 5-4 over Toronto, 6-2 lost to Edmonton, 5-4 over Pittsburgh. The Mammoth score plenty, with 4 or more goals in 3 of their last 5. They've also allowed 4 or more in 4 of those 5, and that was mostly before Marino went out.
The schedule favors Utah. The Mammoth get Friday off at home while Tampa plays in Denver and travels overnight. On the other side, the Lightning have been the steadier team this month, and they've been finishing games where Utah has mostly been trading chances. Friday in Colorado settles the important unknowns before Saturday: whether Cirelli is healthy, how much Vasilevskiy plays, and how tired Tampa's legs are. Bush's picks for this game will go up once that game is done.