Bruins at Lightning
The Tampa Bay Lightning have had plenty of time to think about their last performance and hope to wipe it out of their memory Saturday night when they host the injury-hampered Boston Bruins for an Atlantic Division showdown. The first-place Lightning gave up a season-most in goals Tuesday in a 7-4 setback against Ottawa at home and look to extend their four-point lead on the second-place Bruins in the division.
“Biggest game of the year,” Tampa Bay forward J.T. Miller, who has five goals and nine points in seven games since being acquired from the New York Rangers, told reporters. “Should be an easy game to get up for. We have a point to prove after (Tuesday’s) performance. I think our guys are going to have a chip on their shoulders.” The Bruins have dropped two of their first three on a four-game road trip after a 3-0 loss at Florida on Thursday, but own six wins in the last seven meetings with the Lightning - including a 3-2 victory on Nov. 29. However, center Patrice Bergeron (foot), left wing Jake DeBrusk (upper-body), veteran defenseman Zdeno Chara (upper-body) and rookie blue liner Charlie McAvoy (knee) are not expected to play against Tampa Bay. “You’re not going to score six, or eight, or seven on a regular basis, especially when you start taking some people out of the lineup,” Boston coach Bruce Cassidy told reporters. “So hopefully we turn it around quick and start getting the goals against down to a manageable number.”
TV: 7 p.m. ET, NESN (Boston), FS Sun (Tampa Bay)
ABOUT THE BRUINS (44-17-8): Brad Marchand (team-best 72 points) and speedy David Pastrnak (68) have been doing most of the heavy lifting on offense for Boston, which had won six in a row before its road trip. Marchand boasts six goals and eight assists in his past seven contests while Pastrnak has scored five times and set up eight others in his past eight games with linemate Bergeron out. The Bruins will have to get their special teams in order after going 1-for-9 with the man advantage the last three contests and allowing five on the power play in the same stretch.
ABOUT THE LIGHTNING (48-18-4): Right wing Nikita Kucherov continues to pile up numbers with a goal and eight assists over the last five games and leads the league with 91 points overall. Captain Steven Stamkos owns 11 of his 82 points in the last six contests and Miller joined the high-scoring duo on the top line Tuesday, registering a hat trick in the loss against Ottawa. Andrei Vasilevskiy (40-13-3) needs one victory to pass Ben Bishop for the single-season franchise record, but has not had much help in front of him lately while allowing 19 goals in a four-game span.
OVERTIME
1. Boston G Tuukka Rask (29-11-4) will be back in net after getting rested Thursday and is 14-6-1 all time versus Tampa Bay.
2. The Lightning have allowed 11 power-play tallies in their last 11 games and 26 goals overall in six contests during March.
3. Bruins D Torey Krug, playing despite an undisclosed injury Thursday, had a game-high eight shots on net.