Ducks at Lightning
The paths of the top teams in each conference meet when the road-weary Anaheim Ducks visit the Tampa Bay Lightning on Thursday. The Ducks play their 10th game away from home in the last 13, but come in having won eight of their last 10 despite suffering a 3-2 loss at Florida on Tuesday. The Lightning own an identical record over the last 10 and posted 45 shots to defeat Montreal 2-1 in a shootout Tuesday in their first game without injured All Star Steven Stamkos.
Stamkos is out indefinitely with a broken right tibia and Ducks’ leading scorer and captain Ryan Getzlaf missed the last two games with an upper-body injury. Getzlaf is doubtful while Tampa Bay will need others to step up in the absence of Stamkos. “It was obviously a tough loss whenever you lose a player like that,” Lightning goalie Ben Bishop said. “This is a team sport and we’re going to move forward.”
TV: 7:30 p.m. ET, Prime (Anaheim), SunSports (Tampa Bay)
ABOUT THE DUCKS (15-4-1): Getzlaf, who registered his first career hat trick in his last game on Friday against Buffalo, skated on his own Wednesday and did not practice with the team. The 6-4 center leads the team in scoring with 22 points and Corey Perry follows closely with 21. Key forwards Saku Koivu and Jakob Silfverberg are out with injuries and veteran right wing Teemu Selanne has no goals in eight games, but goalie Frederik Andersen has been outstanding with a 6-1-0 record and .943 save percentage.
ABOUT THE LIGHTNING (13-5-0): Coach Jon Cooper moved right wing Brett Connolly to center with captain Martin St. Louis and Alex Killorn on a rebuilt top line with Stamkos out. Center Valtteri Filppula primarily skated with newcomer J.T. Brown and Teddy Purcell while the Lightning received their goal against Montreal from the fourth line of Ryan Malone, Nate Thompson and B.J. Crombeen. Bishop leads the league in wins (12) and has allowed two or fewer goals in 12 of his 14 outings - including five straight victories.
OVERTIME
1. Ducks C Andrew Cogliano has scored a goal in a career-high four consecutive games.
2. Tampa Bay is 7-2-0 in one-goal games this season after finishing a league-worst 5-12-4 in the same situation in 2012-13.
3. Anaheim D Hampus Lindholm, 19, has six points and is plus-14 in his first 18 career games.