Lightning at Predators
The Nashville Predators have been missing key players all season but continue to accumulate victories and hope to extend their winning streak to six games when they host the Tampa Bay Lightning on Tuesday. Nashville scored three straight goals in the second period Saturday to rally past Florida 4-3 and improve to 5-0-1 in its last six contests to climb within one point of first-place Winnipeg in the Central Division.
“We have depth, and we’re confident in our lineup throughout it, whether it’s our regular guys that are in or guys that aren’t regulars that are coming in every now and then,” Predators defenseman P.K. Subban told reporters. “We’ve seen a lot of success when we stick to the plan and execute properly.” Nashville has earned at least one point in its last seven meetings (6-0-1) with Tampa Bay, which rebounded from three straight ugly losses to blank Chicago 2-0 on Monday behind a 40-save effort from Andrei Vasilevskiy. “We needed a game like that,” Lightning defenseman Braydon Coburn told the Tampa Bay Times. “There was a sense of urgency tonight. Good step in the right direction.” Nikita Kucherov has gone five games without a goal but leads the league with 61 points
TV: 8 p.m. ET, TVA, FS Sun (Tampa Bay), FS Tennessee (Nashville)
ABOUT THE LIGHTNING (32-12-3): Vasilevskiy posted an .850 save percentage over his previous five games before recording his league-leading seventh shutout and 28th victory on Monday. Captain Steven Stamkos' goal-scoring drought reached nine games, but Brayden Point notched an assist to give him eight points over his last five contests. Matt Peca recorded one shot in 10 minutes, 3 seconds of ice time in his season debut on Monday and posted a plus-1 rating after his work led to Yanni Gourde’s 15th goal in the final minutes, which sealed the victory.
ABOUT THE PREDATORS (28-11-6): Subban has registered a goal and four assists in his last five games to tie for the team lead in points with Filip Forsberg (34), who has been sidelined since Dec. 29 with a hand injury but has begun skating. Defenseman Mattias Ekholm (illness) sat out Saturday’s game and his status for Tuesday is uncertain while Viktor Arvidsson (27 points) returned to the lineup after missing two contests to injury. Kevin Fiala has scored three goals in his last three games to push his season total to 13 - two fewer than team co-leaders Forsberg and Craig Smith.
OVERTIME
1. The Lightning announced LW Ondrej Palat will miss 6-to-8 weeks with the lower-body injury he sustained in Minnesota on Saturday.
2. Nashville G Pekka Rinne, who has won four straight, is 7-0-1 lifetime versus Tampa Bay.
3. Stamkos, who is second on the team with 54 points, is two assists shy of 300 for his career.