Oilers at Lightning
The Edmonton Oilers look to finish the sweep on their two-game trip to the Sunshine State when they visit the well-rested Tampa Bay Lightning on Thursday. The Oilers, who had been shut out the previous two contests, snapped a five-game winless streak with Mark Arcobello’s overtime goal in the 4-3 victory over Florida on Tuesday. Steven Stamkos scored 11 goals in the last 11 games for Tampa Bay, which has not played since Saturday and does not have a losing streak this season.
Tampa Bay is 5-0-0 against Western Conference teams, including a 4-2 victory over St. Louis in its last game. Stamkos and captain Martin St. Louis were joined by Alex Killorn on the top line the last two games and the trio has combined for nine points. Edmonton will have to deal with the high-scoring Lightning as it tries to climb out of last in the league in goals-against (3.81).
TV: 7:30 p.m. ET, SNET (Edmonton), SunSports (Tampa Bay)
ABOUT THE OILERS (4-10-2): Arcobello, who had 10 assists in his first 10 NHL games, scored his first two career goals against Florida and moved into a tie with Ryan Nugent-Hopkins for the team lead in points with 12. The Oilers got veteran Ryan Smyth back in the lineup against the Panthers and Taylor Hall (knee) is close to a return. With defenseman Justin Schultz (groin) and Anton Belov (knee) sidelined, Philip Larsen played his second game with the Oilers and Taylor Fedun made his NHL debut on the blue line Tuesday.
ABOUT THE LIGHTNING (10-4-0): Coach Jon Cooper is still tinkering with his forward lines after moving Killorn to the top unit and adding Brett Connolly to the mix recently. Connolly, the sixth overall pick in the 2010 draft, scored the go-ahead goal against St. Louis and played with several different trios including second-line center Valtteri Filppula. Mark Barberio also joined the lineup the last two games and the former American Hockey League defenseman of the year earned his first career point with an assist in the last contest.
OVERTIME 1. The Lightning is 32-for-33 on the penalty kill the last nine games and Arcobello’s winner Tuesday was Edmonton’s second power-play goal in 11 games.
2. Edmonton recalled LW Linus Omark from Oklahoma City of the AHL on Wednesday.
3. Tampa Bay goalie Ben Bishop allowed two or fewer goals in nine of 11 outings and stands 9-2-0 with a .925 save percentage.