Canadiens at Lightning
The Tampa Bay Lightning continue to show flaws while piling up victories and look to extend their point streak to 10 games when they host the Atlantic Division-rival Montreal Canadiens on Saturday afternoon. The Lightning rolled to 3-0 and 5-1 leads Thursday against the depleted New York Rangers before settling for a 5-3 victory and have allowed 17 goals in the last four games despite winning them all.
“It’s contagious on the bench,” Tampa Bay left wing Chris Kunitz told reporters after the victory. “I don’t know if we’re taking our foot off the gas (in the third period). But it’s tough to play a full game like we were in the first 15 minutes (Thursday).” The Lightning are 8-0-1 in their last nine games but have had problems against struggling Montreal, going to a shootout in each of the last two encounters with each team winning once. The Canadiens had gained at least a point in seven straight games (3-0-4) before starting their four-game road trip with a pair of losses, including a 5-0 setback at Florida on Thursday despite recording 40 shots on net. “You have to live with the knocks and the bad breaks,” Montreal coach Claude Julien told reporters. “We’re asking a lot of players to play bigger roles than they’re ready for because we have an arm-length of injuries. A lot of those guys are impact players on our team. We all know that and we have to live with the consequences.”
TV: 1 p.m. ET, TSN2, RDS (Montreal), FS Sun (Tampa Bay)
ABOUT THE CANADIENS (25-31-11): Right wing Brendan Gallagher posted five of his team-high 41 points in the four games prior to Thursday and tops Montreal with 24 goals. Forward Alex Galchenyuk is second on the team with 39 points, but has been blanked in three straight games, while center Jonathan Drouin (10 goals, 23 assists) also came up empty in the past three contests. Antti Niemi (lower-body), who is 4-2-3 with a .931 save percentage since coming to Montreal, could return between the pipes to try and improve a 0-3-1 mark against Tampa Bay in 2017-18.
ABOUT THE LIGHTNING (47-17-4): Center Anthony Cirelli, who scored the game-winner in the 2015 Memorial Cup final for Oshawa, has given Tampa Bay a lift since being recalled with two goals, three assists and a plus-4 rating in four games. “He picked up some points for us, which has been great, but how has he played in the circle? How is he doing defensively? …” coach Jon Cooper told reporters. “And he’s checking a lot of the boxes.” Right wing Nikita Kucherov leads the league with 87 points and boasts five assists in the last three contests while captain Steven Stamkos has seven of his 78 points in the past four games.
OVERTIME
1. Tampa Bay F Yanni Gourde has 24 goals and needs one to pass Tyler Johnson for the franchise rookie record.
2. Canadiens D Mike Reilly registered four assists in five games since being acquired from Minnesota at the trade deadline.
3. The Lightning are 1-for-13 on the power play over the last six games and Montreal is 0-for-13 in the past four.