Lightning at Bruins
The Tampa Bay Lightning have their focus clearly on the playoffs ahead, but they can make some history in the final contest of the regular season when they complete a four-game road trip Saturday afternoon against the Boston Bruins. The Lightning boast 61 wins, one shy of the single-season NHL record set by the Detroit Red Wings in 1995-96, after knocking off Toronto 3-1 on Thursday.
“We’re not really talking about it much,” Tampa Bay defenseman Ryan McDonagh told reporters. “I think that’s just a sign that we’re consistent with our game. We obviously want to be. We take a lot of pride in being competitive and not allowing losses to snowball into something bigger. It’s good that we can have a quick response after our losses this year and get back on the winning page.” The Lightning have won six of the last seven meetings, including the final four games of the Eastern Conference semifinals last season, and are 2-1 in the 2018-19 series with the only loss coming at Boston in late February. The Bruins (49 wins), who have wrapped up second place in the Atlantic Division and will host Toronto in the first round of the playoffs next week, rested several regulars including leading scorer Brad Marchand (100 points), David Krejci, captain Zdeno Chara and Charlie McAvoy in the 3-0 victory at Minnesota on Thursday. “We don’t really have anything to play for (Thursday) and next game, but we want to play to our standard,” Boston forward Joakim Nordstrom told reporters. “We want to build our game and end the regular season on a good note.”
TV: 1 p.m. ET, Sportsnet360; FS Sun (Tampa Bay), NESN (Boston)
ABOUT THE LIGHTNING (61-16-4): Right wing Nikita Kucherov scored his 40th goal to match his career high Thursday and leads the NHL with 126 points, one behind Alexander Mogilny for the most in a season by a Russian-born player. Captain Steven Stamkos tops the team with 44 goals and has equaled the career best of 97 points that he produced in 2011-12, while goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy has clinched the league lead with 39 wins. Defenseman Dan Girardi, out since March 7 with a lower-body injury, is expected to return for the regular-season finale.
ABOUT THE BRUINS (49-23-9): David Pastrnak has goals in back-to-back games to give him a team-high 38 and the right wing needs one point to match his career high of 80 that he registered last season. Left wing Jake DeBrusk boasts three goals and two assists in his last three games and is one shy of his career high of 43 points while center Patrice Bergeron is one away from his first season with at least 80 points. Veteran Kevan Miller left Thursday’s game with a lower-body injury, but coach Bruce Cassidy told reporters he expected the defenseman to play Saturday.
OVERTIME
1. Boston RW Zach Senyshyn, who was picked 15th overall in the 2015 draft, scored in his first NHL game Thursday.
2. Tampa Bay D Mikhail Sergachev boasts a goal and six assists with a plus-3 rating in the last five contests.
3. The Bruins are 0-for-9 on the power play in the last four games while the Lightning are 1-for-16 in the past six, but lead the league at 28.1 percent.