Lightning at Golden Knights
The Tampa Bay Lightning hope to build off textbook efforts on both ends of the ice from the last two games and extend their point streak to seven when they visit the Vegas Golden Knights on Friday. The Lightning posted a franchise-record 54 shots in the victory at Chicago on Sunday and followed that up by limiting red-hot Colorado to 11 shots over the final two periods of a 1-0 win Wednesday.
“The bench was full of energy throughout the whole game as it continued on,” Tampa Bay defenseman Ryan McDonagh told reporters after Wednesday’s triumph. “Guys were pulling for one another and guys were embracing whatever the challenge was, power play, penalty kill or five-on-five.” The Lightning attempt to win for the first time against the Golden Knights, who captured a pair of victories against them during their outstanding inaugural campaign - including a 4-3 triumph in Sin City when Shea Theodore scored with 2.3 seconds left. Vegas had righted its ship with three straight victories to even its record at 4-4 before suffering a 3-2 shootout setback Wednesday at home versus shorthanded Vancouver. “I think we looked across at the opponent and thought we were going to walk through them. That’s not the case,” Golden Knights forward Ryan Reaves told reporters. “If you don’t play your best game every night, any team can win in this league and it showed (Wednesday).”
TV: 6 p.m. ET, TVA, FS Sun (Tampa Bay), AT&T Sportsnet Rocky Mountain (Vegas)
ABOUT THE LIGHTNING (6-1-1): Captain Steven Stamkos and 100-point scorer Nikita Kucherov have been split up during Tampa Bay’s point streak (5-0-1), but the dynamic duo combined for the winning power-play goal Wednesday. “It worked out and I was able to find Kuch and he doesn’t miss too often from there,” Stamkos told reporters of his nifty cross-ice pass. “It was nice to get one and be a difference-maker in the game.” Kucherov had two shots and was kept off the scoresheet in the season’s first two games, but has recorded three goals and five assists during a six-game point streak since.
ABOUT THE GOLDEN KNIGHTS (4-4-1): Goalie Marc-Andre Fleury has limited opponents to four goals, including a shutout of Philadelphia, in his last four games after surrendering 14 in the first four of the season. Jonathan Marchessault, who played with Tampa Bay from 2014-2016, has three goals on 18 shots in the last three games and leads the team with 10 points while William Karlsson is next with eight. Left wing Max Pacioretty, acquired from Montreal in the offseason, scored his second goal of the season Wednesday and right wing Alex Tuch had five shots, after returning from a lower-body injury, in his 2018-19 debut.
OVERTIME
1. Vegas D Nate Schmidt, who is serving a 20-game suspension for PED use, signed a six-year, $35.7 million extension Wednesday.
2. The Lightning lead the league in penalty killing (32-of-33) and the Golden Knights are seventh (21-for-25).
3. Tampa Bay G Andrei Vasilevskiy, who allowed eight goals on 66 shots against Vegas in 2017-18, boasts a .941 save percentage after the shutout of Colorado.