Canucks at Lightning
The NHL-best Tampa Bay Lightning survived an eight-game road swing by collecting five wins and play at home for the first time since Jan. 18 when they host the Vancouver Canucks on Thursday night. The Lightning won three of four away from home before the All-Star break and split four games on the central and western Canada leg of the road stretch, closing with their worst performance in a 6-2 loss at Edmonton on Monday.
Tampa Bay captain Steven Stamkos told the Tampa Bay Times it feels like it’s been a while since his team has played a solid game and veteran forward Chris Kunitz added: “We’ve got to get back to believing in each other. It’s not going to be easy. It never is. That’s why it’s the NHL. Guys have to earn their space. Sometimes you have to do it by getting beat or getting embarrassed.” The Lightning are one point ahead of second-place Boston, which has one game in hand, in the Atlantic Division and take on the Canucks for the second time in six days after winning 4-2 in Vancouver on Saturday. Vancouver started its four-game road trip with a dull effort in a 3-1 loss at Florida on Tuesday as the Panthers finished with a 40-27 advantage in shots. “It didn’t feel like there was a whole lot of energy in the game overall, but that’s by no means an excuse,” Canucks coach Travis Green told reporters. “We didn’t play as well as we could play and that’s disappointing, for sure.”
TV: 7:30 p.m. ET, Sportsnet East, Sportsnet Ontario, Sportsnet Pacific (Vancouver), FS Sun (Tampa Bay)
ABOUT THE CANUCKS (21-26-6): The top line of Sven Baertschi, Bo Horvat and Brock Boeser was quiet in the loss at Florida, combining for five shots, no points and no hits with a minus-3 rating. Boeser paces the team and all NHL rookies in goals (25) and tops Vancouver in points (46) while veteran forward Thomas Vanek is next with 37 points and captain Henrik Sedin leads the way with 32 assists. Markus Granlund scored the only goal Tuesday - his first in 19 games - and fellow forward Brandon Sutter notched an assist for the fourth consecutive contest.
ABOUT THE LIGHTNING (36-14-3): While Tampa Bay leads the league in scoring (3.53) and would have to suffer a major meltdown to lose a playoff spot, it is an ordinary 7-6-1 since Jan. 4 and some of its top goal producers are slumping. Right wing Nikita Kucherov leads the NHL with 66 points, but has gone 11 games without a goal, and Stamkos scored only twice in his last 15 contests. The Lightning has been getting strong contributions from their supporting players up front as Alex Killorn boasts six points and Yanni Gourde five in the last three games.
OVERTIME
1. Vancouver F Sam Gagner returned to the lineup Tuesday after sitting out the game against Tampa Bay because of a concussion.
2. Kunitz needs three points to reach 600 in his career and has 17 while playing in all 53 games this season.
3. The Canucks won in their last two trips to Tampa Bay, including 5-1 last season.