Coyotes at Lightning
Nikita Kucherov has fallen out of the top spot in the race for the Art Ross Trophy but looks to regain it while igniting his team's offense when the Tampa Bay Lightning host the Arizona Coyotes on Monday. Kucherov was kept off the scoresheet during Saturday's 2-1 loss at New Jersey to remain at 95 points while Edmonton’s Connor McDavid has moved in front by four for the league lead.
The Lightning scored seven goals in Thursday's win against the New York Islanders before being throttled by the Devils and lead second-place Boston by just two points in the Atlantic Division while having played one more game. “We didn’t have that urgency to play with a team that was flying tonight,” Tampa Bay left wing Chris Kunitz told reporters after the club fell to 3-3-0 over its last six games and remained two shy of matching the franchise record of 108 points. Arizona, which is last in the Western Conference with 61 points, has dropped two straight following a promising 13-5-2 run and is 1-2-0 on its six-game road trip after coughing up a two-goal lead in Saturday's 4-2 loss at Florida. “We looked fast and then some guys got a little tired and we got a little sluggish with our details,” Coyotes coach Rick Tocchet, who guided the Lightning from 2008-10, told reporters after his team’s latest setback. “They’ve got some high-end players and they started to make a push in the third, and we couldn’t make that play.”
TV: 7:30 p.m. ET, FS Arizona Plus, FS Sun (Tampa Bay)
ABOUT THE COYOTES (25-39-11): Rookie Clayton Keller is finishing the season strong with four goals and seven assists during an eight-game point streak that has pushed his team-leading total to 59 points. Veteran Derek Stepan is second on the team in scoring (53 points) after posting four straight multi-point performances to draw within four of the career high he set in 2013-14 while with the New York Rangers. Former Lightning forward Richard Panik, who has registered five points over his last five games, has registered five goals and eight assists in 28 contests since being acquired from Chicago.
ABOUT THE LIGHTNING (51-20-4): Captain Steven Stamkos is mired in a nine-game goal-scoring drought, although he has recorded nine assists in that stretch to rank second on the team with 86 points - his highest total since 2011-12. Versatile forward Yanni Gourde (58 points) has gone eight games without a goal and remains tied with Tyler Johnson for the franchise rookie record of 24. Backup Louis Domingue, who has won four straight starts and gone 6-2-0 with Tampa Bay, could get the call against the team with which he went 0-6-0 with a 4.33 goals-against average and .856 save percentage in seven games (five starts) to begin the season.
OVERTIME
1. Arizona D Trevor Murphy, who was acquired from Nashville earlier this season, recorded one shot in 10 minutes, 39 seconds of ice time Saturday in his NHL debut.
2. Tampa Bay D Mikhail Sergachev has notched a goal and three assists over his last three games and leads all NHL rookie blue-liners with 38 points.
3. The Lightning posted a 4-1 win at Arizona earlier this season as Kucherov, Johnson and C Brayden Point each recorded a goal and an an assist.