Lightning at Senators
The Tampa Bay Lightning will try to put together a better defensive effort and rely on their goaltender a little less when they visit the Ottawa Senators on Saturday for a battle between Atlantic Division rivals. The Lightning allowed 21 and 29 shots, respectively, in the first two games of their road trip before Andrei Vasilevskiy made 37 saves in Thursday's 2-1 shootout loss at Montreal.
“When we gave up the 3-on-1 in the first 20 seconds of the game, and then we turned the puck over right after that, it just kind of showed the mindset in how this was going to go,” Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper told reporters. “I can’t be too hard on our guys. They’ve played outstanding defense for a long time. We just didn’t (Thursday).” The Lightning have earned the most points in the league (61) and are 12-2-1 over their last 15 contests as they prepare to face the Senators, who come in on a wave of emotion after scoring the final four goals in a 6-5 overtime triumph against San Jose on Friday. Matt Duchene scored one of Ottawa's three third-period goals before adding another seven seconds into the extra session for the team’s second win in eight games (2-4-2). “We showed a lot of heart,” Duchene told reporters after his team registered 43 shots, including 17 in the third period.
TV: 7 p.m. ET, FS Sun (Tampa Bay), Sportsnet One, CITY, TVA (Ottawa)
ABOUT THE LIGHTNING (29-8-3): Nikita Kucherov comfortably leads the league in scoring with 57 points, including 23 in his last 17 contests, and is tied for first with Washington's Alex Ovechkin at 26 goals after tallying on Thursday. Captain Steven Stamkos has notched five points in his last five games to reach 50 for the seventh time in his career while defenseman Victor Hedman has reached 30 for the fifth straight campaign after collecting 13 in his last 11 contests. Ryan Callahan returned to the lineup Thursday after missing eight games with an upper-body injury and registered four shots in 11 minutes, 44 seconds of ice time.
ABOUT THE SENATORS (13-17-9): Mike Hoffman went 14 games without a goal and six without a point before scoring to tie it in the third period and setting up three tallies in the victory over San Jose. Mark Stone (team-best 16 goals) added three points to push his team-leading total to 37 while Derick Brassard registered a goal and an assist to give him four of each over his last eight games. Nate Thompson suffered a lower-body injury in Friday's contest and is not expected to play against his former team on Saturday.
OVERTIME
1. Ottawa RW Bobby Ryan, who recorded a pair of assists in the win over San Jose, is slated to play in his 700th NHL game on Saturday.
2. Tampa Bay D Anton Stralman posted his first minus rating in 16 games on Thursday (minus-1) and is an NHL-best plus-26 on the season.
3. The Lightning beat Ottawa 4-3 in a shootout on Dec. 21 for their fifth win in the last six games of the all-time series.